You Should Have Cared
by Fenik
Summary: This is the sequel to 'I Should Have Told You'. L and Ahiru fly to Los Angeles to deal with rumours that an American Kira has emerged. Will they find the killer before the killer finds them? And will L change before he loses Ahiru forever?
1. Chapter 1

**Prologue**

You looked down at the thick envelope that had been quietly slipped underneath the door of your grandmother's apartment. Only the letter L graced the front and there was no recorded return address or postmark. Carefully using the letter knife from your grandmother's drawer, you slit the envelope open and peered inside. Nothing seemed suspicious about the bundle of papers and you exhaled before reaching inside and pulling out the confidential documents. Glancing over them, you quickly took in the message. The American Government was in need of a detective. A detective who had dealt with this type of criminal before; a criminal like Kira.

**Chapter One**

L glanced over at the blonde impatiently tapping her fingers on the armrest of the plastic chair in front of gate 42. "Must you? I'm trying to make a phone call," L inquired, failing to hide his exasperation.

"I want to get on the plane already, I've never been to America before, let alone Los Angeles," you pouted, throwing another look at the air hostesses that to you looked like they were dawdling.

L sighed yet couldn't help but smile a little at your childish behaviour. "Please just try not to distract me. This phone call is very important," he said, pressing a few buttons on a mobile and letting it dangle against his ear.

"Who are you calling anyway? I thought Watari was going to take care of the arrangements before he followed us over?" you asked, truly curious as to who would be important enough for L to contact personally.

"Wammy. I am instructing him to keep my…revival quiet and to allow Near and Mello to take over the operation. My services are needed elsewhere, after all," L explained, only half paying attention as he waited for the receiver to pick up.

"I see," you said, thinking over the confidential reports sent from the American government, requesting the help of the prodigal detective.

'I think they'd be surprised to find out two of us are coming,' you mused, grinning to yourself.

"Hello, this is L. Yes, I am afraid that I will be out of the country for an undetermined period of time. I must request that you tell no one that I am alive. In regards to the Kira case, instruct Near and Mello to work together to solve it, I am required elsewhere at this time. Yes. Thank you for your understanding."

L hung up the phone and slipped it into his jean pocket before awarding you his full attention. You waited expectantly and he quickly updated you, "Wammy has agreed with my plan and will do as I ask."

You nodded, and an announcement from an airhostess at your gate caught your attention. "Look like we're boarding," you said, straightening up and pulling your carry-on bag over your shoulder.

L rose from his usual strange position and walked at your side to the airport gate. "Hello. Please enjoy your flight," a brunette airhostess said as you handed her your ticket.

You smiled in excitement, "Thanks."

Stepping out of the Los Angeles airport terminal, towing your bags behind you, you smiled at the brilliant sunlight warming your skin. L efficiently captured a cab and gave the driver an address of a hotel. You sat in the back seat and stared out of the window as the buildings rushed past, your hand comfortably nestled inside of L's. Upon arrival, you pulled yourself out of the yellow taxi and craned your head back to take in the whole hotel. 'He never does things half-hearted, does he…' you thought to yourself, smiling all the same.

"How long are we staying at this one?" you turned to ask L.

"Watari is renting a beach house for us to use as our residence…so only four days or so," L informed you, casually making his way to the front entrance.

The bellboy had already taken your bags inside and you were the last to enter. Of course, the inside was extravagant, gold and white on every surface. You would have gasped in amazement except that you were conscious that L would probably find your reaction amusing. Taking it in your stride, you barely batted an eyelid when the receptionist greeted you as Mr. and Mrs. Brown. You took the elevator up several flights and unlocked your door only to find that the phone was already ringing. L moved past you and used his index finger and thumb to lift the receiver and answer the phone. 'Who could be calling us? We only just made it through the door…'

"Yes, it's secure," you heard L say and you turned to him, curious.

"I agree. It will be best to meet the investigators as soon as possible. Now? I see. I have brought another detective to assist me with this case. . Certainly."

L dropped the phone back onto its base and walked back over to the door where you were standing, watching him in confusion. "I'm afraid we're going to have to leave straight away. The American investigation summons us to their headquarters to start on the case, they don't want to waste any time it seems. They must be getting desperate about finding this American Kira."

"Okay," you nodded, you weren't happy about this sudden change but you would accept it.

L thoroughly checked the hall before leaving the room and interlacing his fingers with yours. "Why are you so cautious? We've booked out this entire floor, no one but the maids will have need to come here," you wondered aloud, slightly amused by L's paranoia.

He gave you a look and you stayed quiet, a smile playing upon your lips. You made it safely to the waiting black limo with tinted windows, and climbed into the seat next to L. Unable to quench your excitement at being in a new country, you watched the scenery pass in wonder. It was hard to grasp the vast differences between your Japan and America. All too soon the vehicle pulled into an underground car park, and the driver swiped a card which rose the boom gate which lead to a deeper, car-less parking area. "Sir, Madam, we've arrived," were the only words spoken by the middle-aged male driver, and as you pulled yourself out of the car and shut the door, he turned and left you both alone in the empty lot.

It took you a second to see the elevator at the far wall and you began leading L there under the blinking fluorescent lights. 'Could they have found a creepier place?' you thought, imagining this place being used in a horror movie.

L pressed the button and the doors immediately opened, you walked inside and the doors sealed shut. "Uhh…how do we know which floor?" you asked L, looking dubiously at the many buttons.

Before he could answer, the lift sprung into action and caught you by surprise as it started moving sideways. It had been nearly five minutes before it shuddered to a halt and the doors automatically opened. You peered out as your eyes adjusted from the dull elevator light to the brightness of the room you now found yourself in. "Am I to believe that you are L and Ahiru?" questioned a deep voice and you took in the sight of the speaker.

"You are," replied L, slipping easily into English and stepping into the large, furniture-less room.

You stepped out with him, however, unlike his level gaze directed at the speaker, you examined the room unabashedly. "The rest of the team are waiting in another room, I shall take you there now."

L nodded, silently watching the other man's movements. The speaker, a tall light-haired man well into his forties strode over to a blank wall and pressed a button that was hardly visible. A keypad presented itself and he keyed in a number, and then moved one eye close for it to scan. He pressed his thumb against the pad after it had taken a scan of his retina and it seemed that the machine was finally happy. A handle replaced the pad and the man briefly tugged on it to release a door on the other side of the room. You watched in disbelieving amusement as you watched this strange and complicated process for opening one door. 'I hope we don't have to go through any more doors or else we might die before we even reach the room…'  
The man turned and gestured for you to follow him through the opening in the wall and you quickly complied. Walking down the small, well-lit tunnel, you wondered if maybe this group of people could rival L's paranoia. The man stopped at a thick, iron door and as another keypad presented itself, he repeated the process from the room before. The door swung open effortlessly, and you got your first look at the American investigation team. Five people, including the man who had greeted you, composed the team and your first reaction was to smile politely. There was a short, rather young, brown-haired male and he introduced himself as Cain. Next to him stood the tall dark-haired man who informed you that he was to be called Andre and that he was the leader of the investigation. Your smiled faltered slightly at his impolite words but you recovered as you shook hands with the next member. This woman was obviously Chinese and her smile was sincere and open. "I'm Soo-long and it's a great pleasure to meet you, Ahiru," she greeted, her laughter lines crinkling as she smiled again.

The second last team member was a large, elderly man with a shock of white hair. He shook your hand and you nodded as he told you his name was Ackerley. His accent betrayed him as German and it seemed he had not yet stayed long enough in America for his thick accent to disappear. The last investigator was a grinning dark-skinned man who shook your hand enthusiastically, introducing himself as Taylan. His dark eyes seemed to glow with confidence and you had no choice but to return his grin. "It's nice to meet you all," you said, thoroughly happy with those picked for the investigation team.

L echoed your announcement, and everyone turned back to their previous work. All except the leader, Andre, who took it upon himself to give you both a brief description of what they had achieved so far. It seemed that the killings had at first been recorded as random happenings; however, it soon became obvious that three groups in particular were being targeted. Major company owners, judges and lawyers, and highly esteemed prodigies.

The list confused you more than anything else, what kind of link would those three hold? And why would someone hold a vendetta towards these particular groups? You glanced over to L and saw that he was pondering the exact same thing. You released a breath as you realised that this was going to be a long holiday.


	2. Chapter 2

"Have you managed to find a connection, Andre?" you questioned, your eyes flicking to his expressionless face.

He shook his head slowly, his features molding until they were a picture of disgust. "The three groups seem entirely unrelated, except for the fact that most members are far above the average wage mark."

"You think that the killer has a vendetta towards the wealthy?" L then asked, his dark eyes betraying his interest in this new case.

"Well, at first glance, yes. But then, if you consider every single person, no," Andre explained, flipping through the stack of papers in his hands.

"What? What do you mean?" you queried, feeling confused.

"Remember, I said most members. There are some who are also below the average mark. For example, Samuel Brunt, a prodigy child who went on to become a freelance expert on Ancient Macedonia barely received any money from his work," Andre said, showing you both Samuel's file.

"So…his killing would suit a murderer who despised…the intelligent?" you ventured, struggling to understand what each of these people had in common.

"Yes," Andre confirmed, nodding slightly.

You looked to L, silently asking him if he could find a pattern in these seemingly unrelated deaths. "Maybe there's more than one motive….or…" L mused, his eyes glancing up and catching yours, "Maybe there's more than one person."

"Two Kira's?" you echoed, considering the concept, "Just like the Japanese Kira's."

L shook his head, "Three."

Your eyes widened at his statement and Andre looked on confused. "What are you talking about?" he questioned, uncomfortable with his sudden unimportance.

"Three Kira's, all working together," you informed him, speaking for L who was lost deep in thought, a finger lightly stroking his lip.

Andre's eyebrows rose and he cursed himself for not seeing what now seemed obvious. "Of course, the three different unrelated groups…a different killer for each one…"

"So, it's now a matter of finding people who fit into each of these categories," you said, tugging at your bottom lip as you stared at the wall.

"Wait! Don't get ahead of yourself! We don't even know if this killer, or killers, even live in America. They could be on the other side of the planet for all we know," Andre reasoned.

"True. However, since it is 56% likely that these killers reside in America, it would be best for us to begin the search here," L formulated, already moving towards the closest computer.

Andre seemed stunned at the ease with which L assumed control of his team. "Soo-Long, could you get the web address of every single site where the victim's names were displayed, no matter how confidential, as well as every appearance broadcast on public TV."

"Yes, certainly," Soo-Long affirmed, rushing off to her own terminal.

You slowly approached L, taking in the information he had already pulled up on the screen. He gestured to the computer beside the one he had commandeered and you sat down in front of it, wondering whether he expected you to immediately get to work. Your lack of movement caused him to raise his head and gaze at you questioningly. You started off awkwardly, "We…just got to a new country…and I…well…I don't really want to jump straight into work…"

He nodded in understanding; you were different to him in many respects. He would rather begin the investigation as soon as possible, not wasting a single second on anything not deemed critical. You, however, were in a new city for the first time and were excited to go out and experience everything it had to offer. "Maybe the investigation will proceed better if you first gain a knowledge of the people in this city," L supplemented, giving you your excuse to leave.

You beamed at him and he complimented you with a quick smile of his own. You stretched over and kissed his cheek before turning and asking Andre to open the doorways for you.

'Where now…' you wondered, making your way down one of the busy boulevards.

You had already spent a few hours wandering around the various sights of L.A., and you were now suppressing your urge to sleep as you explored the city. 'Maybe I should head home now…although he's probably still attached to that computer…'

You laughed and shook your head as you realised that you were feeling jealous of an inanimate object. Lost in your thoughts, you almost overbalanced when a small child collided straight into your legs. "Sorry, miss," the child muttered, before darting around you and running off again.

However, before he could escape again, your hand snaked out and caught his wrist. "Wait. Why are you running?"

The small, brown-haired boy looked up at you and opened his mouth to respond before he was cut off by a panicked voice rushing quickly towards you. "Thomas!"

"Awww," the boy said, obviously aware that his brief minute of freedom had now been ended.

A tall, slender woman came into view and her eyes zeroed in on the tight grasp you had on the boy. Releasing him quickly, you stepped away to show you meant no harm. The woman's great strides brought her to you in no time and she perused you slowly, trying to decide how she should react. After some time, she smiled and her entire face seemed to shine. "Hi, I'm Alexandra. I see you've met my troublesome son, Thomas. Thank you for stopping him, goodness knows how much further he would have gotten if you hadn't," the woman exclaimed, shooting a withering glance at her child.

He lowered his head and mumbled under his breath, knowing that he wouldn't get dessert tonight. "I'm A – Aki," you greeted, catching yourself before you told her your assumed name.

The woman's kind smile was enough to put anyone at ease. Unfortunately for you, that type of effect might prove disastrous. "Aki, is it? You're Japanese, right?" the woman questioned, intrigued by your homeland.

You nodded, "I'm holidaying here. There are certainly a lot of things to do around here."

"Yes, definitely a tourist hotspot. Well, I'm afraid I have to take this little monster home now," she said, gesturing to where her son was making faces up at her, "But if you like I could take you on an unofficial tour of the city, as way of thanks, of course."

You considered her offer. She seemed nice enough and it would be great to get a view of the city from a local's point of view, but you really wanted to see Los Angeles together with L. 'He's probably going to be working on the case most days anyway…' you realised, feeling a small pang of loneliness.

"Yeah, sure. A tour would be brilliant! When would be the best time?" you agreed, smiling brightly.

It wasn't L's fault that he always managed to fully engross himself in his work, that was just the way he was, and you'd be damned if you were going to force him away from his passion. After all, it was your passion as well, just on a smaller scale. "I'm actually free two days from now, if that's okay? I have to work most days, sorry," Alexandra offered, keeping a firm hold on Thomas who was subtly trying to pry himself from her hold.

"Saturday? That's perfect, I'll probably be busy with work tomorrow so the weekend sounds great," you grinned, thinking of the pile of paper that L was most likely waiting for you to peruse back at the headquarters.

She gave you her number and you waved as your new friend dragged her protesting child back to their car. As you walked down the boulevard, you were bursting with happiness that you finally had something non-work related to look forward to.

"Have you found any leads?" you asked straight away as you passed through the doorway to the headquarters.

L barely spared a glance from his computer screen as you entered, but the slight quirk of his lips let you know that he was glad you had returned. Standing behind his chair, you looked up to see that only the white-haired Ackerley and the chief, Andre, remained, bathed in the bright, artificial light from their own computers. "Take a look at the ages and genders of each victim for each of the groups. Doesn't it seem as though each killer also has their own pattern for those they select to eliminate?" L mumbled around a lollipop, and you wondered how he had managed to obtain Japanese sweets in the time you had been gone.

'Probably smuggled them in his pockets,' you thought, chuckling to yourself.

His eyebrow quirked and you realised that he was waiting for you to look through a pile of documents in his outstretched hand. Inwardly sighing, you took the papers and speculated about how many trees this hefty pile would have killed. 'We could probably cut logging in half if he stopped printing out every little thing he found…' you told yourself, grimacing as you noticed the other three piles scattered around L's desk, no doubt also awaiting your inspection.

Quickly flipping through the papers, it took a while for something to register in your tired mind. "Wait…it seems like most of these victims are middle-aged American males…"

"Yes, you're right. There is a clue in there…we just need to figure it out," L said, watching you over his shoulder.

You inclined your head and looked back down at the papers, these killers may have just given themselves away through their biases. Maybe your holiday would be over quicker than you thought.


	3. Chapter 3

"So what does this all mean?" Andre inquired, pouring through pages and pages of information.

"It means, quite possibly, that at least one Kira is male, and one is female. The remaining Kira's gender seems uncertain," L explained, glancing over to you to see if you agreed with his deduction.

You nodded and turned to Andre. "Would you hit a woman?"

Andre blanched; he had clearly not been expecting such a question. "Of course not, a male should never hit a female," he said defensively, feeling scrutinized.

You grinned, and explained, "Your view is shared by many of the population. And if you examine the victims so far, you will notice that one Kira, the one targeting prodigies, distinctly avoids taking the life of a female and tends to only have male victims. We may be incorrectly attributing this, and this person may hold bias towards men, but is it far more likely that this particular Kira is male."

"Are you sure?" Andre asked, surprised.

"82% certain," L interrupted, sipping tea from a porcelain cup.

You resisted rolling your eyes and informed Andre, "Very sure but not absolutely."

"I see," Andre said, his features contemplative, "Well, what about the female Kira? What lead you deduce her gender?"

You looked to L and he nodded. "The same principles apply with this Kira. The bias of a particular gender seems to be nonexistent in the selection of victims. Therefore, this Kira is not influenced by the same societal rules as the first Kira," L spoke, his eyes glued on the computer screen as he finished the last dregs of his tea.

As L reluctantly pulled himself away from his laptop to brew himself some more tea, you concluded your deduction, "A woman."

Andre seemed surprised, and for a second, you caught a glint of something not quite right behind his dark, hazel eyes. You blinked, and Andre's smile spread across his face. "It's amazing how quickly you've managed to ascertain such important facts."

Shrugging, you replied, "It's what we're paid for."

"Yes…" Andre murmured, his smile dimming a shade as he turned away and receded back to his workstation.

He laughed and said, "Well, keep up the good work and we'll all be home by the end of the week!"

You grinned at this remark; they were your sentiments exactly. The faster this case was over, the quicker you could persuade L to take a much-needed holiday. And God did you need that holiday.

You woke in the morning at the hotel and stretched, reaching your arms high above your head. "Good morning," you said, groggily, one foot still in dreamland.

You heard no response and were instantly wide-awake. Taking in your surroundings, you sighed as you realised you had overreacted. Of course L wasn't here, he was working on the investigation. L working on an investigation meant that nothing and no one else mattered. You exhaled loudly, you knew exactly what you were getting yourself into when you fell for him, but that didn't make it any easier on you now. Dragging yourself from under the covers, you decided to track down your elusive partner.

Tapping your foot outside of headquarters, it took all of your patience not to scowl at Andre who gave you an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry, Miss Ahiru, I'm afraid we have not yet programmed your retina blueprints and fingerprints into the system. Until then, please bear with us."

Swallowing your protests, you treaded heavily down the hallway behind him, dutifully waiting for the doors to open. The final blockade finally swung open and you nearly skipped across to hug L from behind. You had actually managed to take him by surprise, and he choked on a candy in his mouth. "As cheerful as ever, Ahiru," he commented, wryly, tilting his head up to take in your bright smile.

"Sleeping in does wonders for the human mind," you remarked, innocently.

"So I've been told," L countered, amusement showing through his eyes.

"You know normal people like to sleep at least 6 or so hours a day, stops their bodily functions from shutting down, you know," you said, hopefully.

"I am grateful that I do not fall into that category then, Ahiru," he finished, and you sighed.

Your eyes met and you had a conversation that didn't need to be put into words. You were worried about him, you always were, and as usual, he already knew how you felt but was worried about more important things than his own well-being. Which ended up getting you nowhere as your logic always understood exactly why he spent so many nights without sleep. You'd done the same thing, after all. Nonetheless, you wanted him to at least try and obey the same rules as everyone else, at least enough to make sure he wouldn't end up destroying his own brain cells in an attempt to stay awake. "I'll try," he said, reading your thoughts straight from your expression.

You smiled again, you had made some progress. "Will you be working on the investigation all day?" you questioned, already knowing the answer but wanting it to be confirmed.

He nodded his head and his tousled dark hair brushed against your cheek. Unable to resist the urge, you placed your cheek against his soft hair. You stole all of the warmth you could from him before straightening and moving to sit in front of your own computer. This was going to be a long day.

Stretching out your back, you uncrossed your legs and stood. "I'm just going for a walk, I'll be right back," you told L.

His eyes traveled up to meet yours and he looked at you imploringly. You resisted the urge to roll your eyes. "Let me guess, more tea?"

In response, he raised the teapot with the arm that wasn't furiously typing on his keyboard. "I'm glad I know exactly why I was needed," you joked, taking the empty porcelain teapot from his loose grasp.

Walking into the small kitchen that the investigators had installed, you came face to face with Soo-Long. "Oh hey, Ahiru, right?" she greeted, smiling at you from the electric jug.

You inclined your head and replied, "Mhmm."

"We haven't really had much of a chance to talk since you joined the team. I swear Andre must have been a slave master in another life," she laughed, vacantly stirring the coffee in her mug.

"He does seem…preoccupied with the investigation," you agreed, wanting to remain neutral.

"Oh yes. He's always like that. I've worked with him on a few cases before. 100% devoted to the job, every time. Though he seems almost…obsessive about this case," Soo-Long confided, lowering her voice.

"Reminds me of someone I know," you commented, dryly.

"Oh, your boyfriend?" Soo-Long queried, glancing over to where L was crouched at his computer.

L's eyes flickered over to you and you wondered whether L could really hear you all the way over there. Then again…you quickly examined your clothes and felt relieved when you found nothing suspicious. Still, he might have…no. You shook your head. Thinking like that would only end up making you as paranoid as L. "He's not? But you seem so close," Soo-Long said, her eyes wide.

It took you a moment to understand what exactly 'He's not?' meant, and you felt slightly flustered as you replied, "No, he is…I think…unofficially. We haven't really talked about it…we haven't really had much time."

Looking back to where L was engrossed in his work, you focused on his mouth and saw that a corner of his mouth had quirked up. 'So he can hear us,' you realised, 'Of course he'd have set up bugs in our own headquarters. They're probably in the carpark as well…'

"Ahiru?"

"Huh?" you said, registering that your name was being called, "Oh…sorry. I've been distracted a lot lately."

She nodded, still smiling. Obviously she'd had experience with distracted people. "It's okay. We've all been a bit like that lately. Especially since you've arrived, we've all been working long hours. We don't want to seem incompetent in comparison."

You resisted the impulse to laugh. "I'm afraid that L generally has that effect on people. I'd advise you not to feel compelled to follow his hours."

"He was already here with Andre by the time the rest of us got in. He's very dedicated," Soo-Long informed, her voice betraying her admiration.

'Dedicated,' you thought, mulling over the meaning of the word, 'I think possessed is much closer.'

"Here, you wanted water for the tea, right?" she said, handing you the electronic jug.

"Thanks," you responded, taking the jug and nodding as she smiled and moved back to her own workstation.

_The more you thought about it, the more you noticed the subtle similarities between Andre and L. Just then, Andre walked into your field of vision in his pressed, business suit and shiny, gelled hair. Behind him sat L at his computer, wearing denim jeans and messy, dark locks. You couldn't withhold a grin as you compared their appearances. The similarities definitely stopped there. Carrying the teapot back into the room, you set it on L's desk. And as he lifted his head to silently thank you with a small kiss, you felt that there was no competition on who you'd choose to love. _


	4. Chapter 4

You had spent all of yesterday and all of the morning working on the case, feeling like you were getting nowhere. "L, what happened with those reports on where the victims names and faces were revealed in the media?" you questioned, irritably flipping through a thick report of victim profiles.

"It turned out to be a dead end, each victim has been easily accessible through the Internet. There is no point trying to pursue the Kira's through this avenue," L replied, his voice betraying his own hidden agitation.

"Are you sure there's nothing? Maybe if we look close enough…" you prompted, drawing your eyebrows down into a frown.

L dropped a stack of thick files onto your already overburdened desk and said, "Be my guest."

Your furrowed eyebrows rose at this gesture. It was unlike L to show his annoyance so clearly. "Are you…okay?" you asked, feeling suddenly shy under the gaze of the dark-haired detective.

He released an almost inaudible sigh before answering. "I apologise…but these Kira's are experts at covering their tracks, the only other time a case has given me such trouble is the original Kira…"

"So, what you're saying is that…you're depressed because we're not making any progress?" you summarized, watching him quizzically.

He nodded and you smothered the urge to grin. "You're depressed because we've been here for what, two, three days, and your genius mind hasn't smacked you in the face with an answer?"

L's expressionless face fell into a frown as he considered your point. "When you put it that way…"

"Please take it easy on yourself, you don't have to take on the burden alone, remember? That's why we're here," you smiled, gesturing towards the group busily tapping away at their own computers.

His gaze quickly glanced over the investigative team before returning to you. A fraction of a smile managed to drag itself across his lips and you knew your job was done. "Thank you, Ahiru."

Your smile grew even wider at his words and you exclaimed, "Now, let's have another look at those media reports."

What seemed like minutes, but was actually hours later, your phone began to dance across the tabletop, impatient for your attention. Checking the screen, you were surprised when you saw that Alexandra was the caller. Answering it, you greeted her cheerfully. "Hi Alexandra, what's going on?"

"Hi Aki, I was just wondering when and where you wanted to meet today," she replied, the background noise of a busy city making her words muffled and soft.

"Oh, right! I nearly forgot, sorry!" you quickly said, and you launched into a story about how you had gone sightseeing all day around Hollywood and came back to the hotel exhausted. "Unfortunately, I didn't get to see any famous actors or directors."

Alexandra sympathized with you, "That's too bad, a friend of a friend of mine knows someone who could have introduced you to some celebrities."

You lost your self in a simple conversation and it took close to half an hour before Alexandra reminded you why she had called. You found a time and a place to meet, and reluctantly hung up the phone after you had said your goodbyes.

As you passed him on the way back to your chair, L's eyes met with yours. "A friend I met a few days ago. We're going to sightsee tonight…did you want to come?" you informed him, only asking as a matter of courtesy.

You knew his response before he had even started shaking his head and you bent down and embraced him from behind. "That's alright, you probably wouldn't like spending the evening with Thomas anyway," you smiled, an image of L running after Alexandra's son flashing through your mind.

L's eyebrows rose questioningly at the mention of Thomas but you didn't respond, choosing to grin mischievously instead. "I think I'll have to introduce Alexandra to the beauty that is tracking, see how far he can get then."

Realising that it was more than likely that Thomas was an unruly child, L sighed in exasperation. "Please don't do anything that will compromise your identity," he chastised.

"I'm not some amateur, L. You should be more worried about the other members, they don't have the same level of experience," you reprimanded, trying to look offended but failing as a laugh escaped your lips.

L's quick eyes darted around the room, taking your words too literally. "You know I was joking, L. They aren't stupid, they won't give us or anyone else away."

You looked up and Andre's eyes met with yours. You smiled brightly and he seemed almost surprised before he hastily returned your smile with one of his own. 'Cops,' you thought, grinning to yourself.

"What did you say the name of your friend was?" L queried, dragging your mind back to him.

"Alexan- wait…oh, don't you dare," you threatened, narrowing your eyes as you noticed his carefully innocent expression.

"I only wish to know their name," L sighed, looking slightly insulted.

You repressed the instinct to roll your eyes, "Yeah, that and their birth date, their occupation, their last 5 places of residence, their school reports, what they had for breakfast…"

L put a finger to your lips and you stared down at him, silently waiting. "You must be more trusting of me, Ahiru," he said.

You detected the laughter in his voice and took his hand in both of yours. Your smile didn't quite reach your eyes as you retorted, "You're one to talk. You're the worst out of all of us."

You knew he knew what you meant, and you knew that he knew that you knew that he knew what you meant. 'Urgh…maybe I should go lie down.'

"Well, I'm meeting her soon so I guess I should go…" you murmured, bringing his hand up to your lips and softly kissing his knuckles.

Both of you stayed unmoving until you heard the loud clunk of a dropped stapler. Opening your eyes, you smiled and moved away. You waved quickly before you exited the headquarters and left him alone to his work.

"Hey Aki, you ready?" asked Alexandra as she reached where you were waiting on the boulevard.

You smiled, "Sure am. Where are we going?"

"I was thinking that we'd actually go on a night tour?" Alexandra suggested, keeping a tight hold on her son, Thomas.

"Yeah, that sounds like fun," you agreed, walking side by side with her as you made your way to the tour pick up point.

You grinned as you realised that you might actually manage to have a normal experience whilst on holidays.

Sitting next to Alexandra on the bus, you hadn't felt so free in a long time. It felt strange to not be subconsciously focusing on the Kira case, and to be fully devoted to enjoying yourself with a friend. You felt almost guilty, but quickly brushed it away as you reached the next destination. Playing the tourist, you obediently snapped picture after picture, thinking about how many piles of photos you were going to end up with after this trip. 'I'll probably end up buying 50 photo albums just to fit in the ones from tonight,' you thought, sweatdropping.

As you moved the camera to take another photo, your lens settled on a couple leaning against one another and smiling, the woman sitting with her head nestled underneath her partner's chin. You lowered the camera, feeling suddenly ill. Your eyes dropped to your shoes and the happy smile that had been plastered across your face had slipped off. 'He's busy…you know that, you knew it when you fell for him, so don't you dare!' you lectured yourself, trying not to feel so desolate.

Suddenly you were nudged in the ribs and you looked over to see Alexandra pointing. "See, that's the Hard Rock Café. You better hurry and take a picture or you'll miss it!"

Jolted back into action, your thoughts fled as you focused on taking a photo of the famous café.

"Thanks Alexandra, I really had a lot of fun tonight," you admitted, stepping off the bus.

Alexandra smiled back, "I'm glad. You looked like you needed a bit of a break. You must have a hard job back in Japan."

You smiled stiffly, her words bringing you back to a reality you wanted to deny for a few more hours. Then a familiar dark-haired head flashed past your eyes and you felt a surge of love flow through you. It was all for him, if he was happy living like this, then you would be too. You both agreed to meet up again soon and you parted, Alexandra chiding Thomas over a rude comment he had made to the tour guide. Turning, you made your way back to the headquarters.

"L?" you whispered, overly aware that there were investigators who had fallen asleep from exhaustion in front of their computer consoles.

He glanced at you over his shoulder, and you moved over to lean against his back. "Did you have fun?" he asked, twirling a lollipop between his fingers.

You hid your surprise that he would bother asking about your night, but grinned and hugged him. "Yeah, we went on a tour and I took around a million photos of everything."

"A million? That might be troublesome…" L mused.

Not knowing if he was joking, you felt content to stay there, standing against L as he tapped on his keyboard. Around half an hour later you began to feel too drowsy to stand and you barely registered as a pair of arms picked you up and carried you over to an armchair. L placed you down and arranged you comfortably before turning back to his computer. Almost as an afterthought, he bent down and pressed his lips softly against your forehead. A trace of a smile ghosted over his face before he pivoted and climbed back onto his chair, preparing to spend the entirety of the night working on the case.


	5. Chapter 5

"Cain, direct the police through the back entrance. Taylan, is your squad ready to move in?" Andre spoke through the headset he wore, his eyes glued to the massive screen before him.

"Yes, Chief. What should I do in the event that the perp is armed?" Taylan responded, drawing his firearm towards his chest as he waited for Andre's answer.

"The last thing we want is injuries, try and take him down but if he starts firing, get out of there."

"Ok, got it."

You could hear shouting the background; Taylan was relaying Andre's orders to the police. Obviously the American police service was still accommodating towards the ending of Kira's reign. Hopefully the US Kira's wouldn't mirror the actions of the Japanese Kira and force them to prohibit the investigation and extermination of the self-proclaimed Gods of the world.

Shaking your head to rid yourself of those troubling thoughts, you turned to L. It surprised you that he hadn't immediately taken charge of the raid and had instead allowed the investigation leader, Andre to direct the search.

The police had received an anonymous tip about the identity of one of the Kira's and upon conducting research into the person they had named; they had found that they had exactly matched the profile of the 3rd Kira. The male Kira who had been shown to target large company owners.

The suspect, Regan Paddington, an 18-year-old high school student living in a small house with his grandmother, alarmingly fitted the acquired timetable of the 3rd Kira's killings. Adding to that, Regan's grandmother's store from which she had once made a comfortable living had been bought out by a massive corporation, reducing her and her grandson to living off his part-time job at a fast food outlet and her government pension.

Although, you couldn't help but think something was slightly off centre about the phone call. You had been told that the caller had been a young male, did that mean that a friend of his had revealed him? At the risk of endangering their own lives? You knew that they had done the right thing, the murders must be ended, but still…something wasn't sitting right.

"Chief! We've located the suspect's grandmother, but he's not here. What should we do?" Cain's voice sounded into your ear, startling you.

Andre's face seemed worried. He was obviously wondering whether Regan had somehow discovered the police's intent to search his home and fled beforehand. "Does the woman know anything?" he eventually decided, peering anxiously at the screen depicting footage from the various cameras situated around the area and also the ones carried by both Taylan and Cain.

Musing that Regan's grandmother was taking the police's sudden appearance rather well, you heard indistinct mumbling before Cain's voice returned. "She says that he's at work."

Despite yourself, you almost giggled. After all the planning that had gone on in the past few days, they hadn't thought to check his work schedule? Looking over, you saw that even though his face wasn't betraying any emotion, L's eyes were crinkled in amusement.

His apparent entertainment at their blunder made something click in your mind. L was practically laughing…he wouldn't be amused in any way if he believed that Kira had evaded their grasp. This information immediately made you certain…L knew that Regan wasn't the 3rd Kira. Yet he had still allowed the investigative team to proceed with their raid.

Another thing occurred to you. That was why he hadn't taken charge. He knew that they weren't going to get anywhere and that the suspect had been innocent all along.

Your eyebrows furrowed, you didn't understand why L had let them waste their resources on something fruitless. L's eyes suddenly darted to meet your accusatory gaze and you could see that he knew you had figured it out.

"Perhaps we should talk, Ahiru-chan?" he suggested, already rising from his chair.

You nodded, your eyes not leaving his face. Even though you knew it shouldn't, it irked you that firstly, L hadn't told you that this wasn't a Kira, and secondly, you hadn't noticed yourself.

"Andre would not have stopped the raid on my behalf. He does not trust my opinion over his own," L explained, barely allowing you time to leave the room before clarifying his actions.

"Oh…" you answered, trying to see it from his perspective.

You had to admit, the investigation leader did seem impervious to suggestions, especially from a prodigal detective that had been assigned to his team without his prior agreement.

"I see what you mean…" you said, "But you should have told me! I was worried out of my mind, thinking of what might happen today."

"I had assumed that you would come to the same conclusion and would disregard the suspect," L said, once again managing to evade blame through logic.

A horrified shout rang through your head and you heard a struggle break out on the other side of the line. "Grandma!"

You tightly closed your eyes; the suspect must have just arrived home to find his grandmother captive to the police. "What's going on? What are you doing here?"

His frantic yells as he called for his grandmother made you feel suddenly ashamed. The police held the ability to enter their property under the weight of the evidence against him, but this innocent high schooler had been at work trying to earn the money to keep them alive, not murdering civilians for his own glory.

Unable to take his anguished shouts, without thinking you burst out, "Even if it wouldn't work, you should have tried to call it off!"

L watched you with cautious eyes and remained silent, this wasn't the first time he had seen you so enraged. "He's come back and there's police at his home and he can't find his grandmother. He's probably scared out of his mind, and you're telling me that you didn't even try preventing this because you wouldn't be listened to?"

At those words, L's eyes widened fractionally and he drew a hand up to place on your shoulder in what was assumedly a comforting manner. "Ahiru, there were two reasons for my not stepping in. Unfortunately, this has resulted in the harming of an innocent party, but the purpose of this far surpasses the consequences."

His words washed away your sudden surge of anger and you looked at him in confusion. "Two reasons?"

Almost imperceptibly you saw L's dark eyes move a fraction to the right, glancing through the open doorway. Following his involuntary hint, your eyes fell upon the tall, well-groomed investigation leader. Looking back to stare incredulously at L, the dark-haired detective shot you a look before moving away to sit back in his chair.

'Andre…?'

"Where's my grandmother?"

You sighed. Those three words were the only ones that the suspected Kira, Regan, was willing to utter since he had been brought into the police station questioning room. The oldest member of the investigative team, Ackerley, softly replied through the microphone, "She's doing well, she's at home right now. You'll be able to see her as soon as we've finished here."

"I don't believe you," Regan quickly shot back, a mixture of fear and determination cast over his features, "Why won't you let me see her and know she's okay?"

"M'boy, I've already explained this to you. You're here under suspicion of being Kira, we can't let you out until we've cleared-"

"I already told you! I'm not a killer! I'm just a high school kid!" Regan interrupted, running a slim hand through his dark hair in frustration.

Ackerley flicked off the microphone and turned to you, a strange expression on his face. "Please, Ahiru, we have to release this boy. He's not lying, I'm an expert in nonverbal behaviour and none of his actions have even hinted that he's not telling us the complete truth."

"I know he's innocent, Ackerley…but his fate is in Andre's hands. Go and talk to him, he'll listen to you, I know he will."

You patted him comfortingly on the back as he nodded his thanks and left the confined booth connected to the questioning room. It crossed your mind that Ackerley seemed to be extremely affected by the arrest of the young suspect. Perhaps…there was something in his past?

You shook your head and focused on your task. You decided you would ask him later, once you had somehow managed to perform a miracle and convinced Andre that his suspect wasn't guilty. It was almost certain that Regan had never even heard of a Death Note, let alone thought about using its powers to glorify himself.

"Regan?" you quietly spoke into the microphone, making the teens lowered head dart up.

His response was low and almost incomprehensible, "What do you want now?"

You swallowed a lump in your throat; Regan was already showing signs of giving up the fight and he had only been in custody for a day.

"Regan, I'm really sorry about this situation, I believe that you're innocent. And I think I may know a way to clear up these allegations against you. Tell me something, is there anyone you know who would purposely indict you?"

Regan's eyebrows furrowed as he considered your question. "You think someone made me a suspect as a prank?"

Quickly backtracking, you replied, "Not necessarily…but it's something we have to seriously consider. Whoever made the call was either sincerely concerned, which I think to be highly unlikely, or hoping to get you into a lot of trouble."

His face darkened and his fists suddenly clenched in anger. He shot up from his chair and strode over to the one-sided mirror, his handcuffs scraping together as he moved. "Jeron. Jeron Marshall."

The fire had reignited behind his eyes as he spoke the name with disgust. Your eyebrows rose at the conviction in his voice, he sounded absolutely certain that he was correct.

You grew irritated at yourself as you realised that, once again, you were about to get a lot deeper than you were supposed to. Exhaling heavily, you turned away from Regan's searching gaze and moved to the phone. You had some calls to make.


	6. Chapter 6

You peered out from under the brim of your cap, reclining back on the hard seats outside the school. 'This better be worth it' you thought, stretching your arm across the top of the chair and waiting.

You were waiting for the boy Regan had named as his potential accuser, Jeron Marshall, to finish school. He was going to get a surprise as soon as he walked through those gates.

In the distance the bell rung, signaling that the school day was at an end. As students filed out through the only gate at the school, you scanned the crowd for the boy you had memorized from the yearbooks.

Catching sight of a student matching the picture, you casually rose and strolled off in his direction. You were wearing normal teenage clothes, forgoing your usual style to be sure you would not be noticed. Glancing around to make it seem as though you were searching for a friend finishing school, you tailed Jeron to the corner and only followed him after he was a fair distance away.

You were waiting for the perfect chance to ambush him. Unfortunately for you, Jeron often took alternative routes home, and not having the chance to place him on a tracking grid, you had to resort to common stalking. You knew this was a more dangerous approach and that if L knew; he would act indifferent and scold you, only betraying his emotion through his dark eyes.

Jeron disappeared around another corner and you had a quick check of the map you had uploaded on your phone. You wished you could've used your wristband computer but it was obviously too conspicuous for a tailing case.

Taking a shortcut, you planned where you would confront Jeron. But before you had the chance to plan your words, you heard footsteps and saw him enter the closed-off alleyway. Matching his pace, you were meters away from the centre when you deserted your act and shoved a startled Jeron against the wall.

It wasn't your usual way of finding information, you would rather use the Internet or uninvolved methods, but Regan's crumpled face spurred you to immediate action. You couldn't let him stay in confinement, imprisoned for a crime he would never commit. It sat heavily on your heart, and you knew Ackerley was feeling distraught over the situation. The others didn't appear too bothered, but you knew that the only one left convinced of Regan's guilt was Andre. Ironically, his word was the one to decide Regan's fate.

"What the hell are you doing?" Jeron spluttered, panic flashing in his eyes.

"Tell me about Regan Paddington," you growled out, surprised by the distaste in your own voice.

"Regan? Why the-"

"Just answer the question. Did you make a phone call to the police, indicting Regan as Kira?" you interrupted, fearing that you were being too harsh and loosening your hold on him.

Jeron's eyes darted to the side and you braced yourself for him to move. However, Jeron proved to be smarter than you had judged and he pulled himself from your hold and tore off in the opposite direction to which he had glanced.

What he had not counted on, however, was that you had already considered that he would move in the other direction, and you quickly took him to the ground. As he landed, he released a grunt of pain, and you said, "Get up. We're still talking."

Jeron pulled himself to his feet and briefly dusted himself before turning to glare at you. He practically spat his answer at you, "Yeah. I made the call. So what? I was a concerned citizen. You've got nothing on me."

"Regan is innocent. Why did you make the call?" you responded, your teeth clenching together.

"As I said-"

"I know what you said. Now tell me the truth," you cut in again, growing frustrated.

L would have known how to handle him; he knew how to handle anybody. You yourself easily grew irritated by disrespectful, spiteful people. "You don't have the right to ask me that," Jeron answered, his eyes declaring that he was grasping at straws.

In truth, he had no idea who this strange, aggressive woman was or whether she was an official.

"Unluckily Jeron, I'm a member of the American Kira Investigative Team, and I have the authority to use reasonable force when questioning a resisting suspect," you replied, watching his face grow pale.

"Suspect?" he almost whispered, fear appearing in his expression.

"Well you will be if you don't give me answers. We both know Regan is innocent but you need to come in and tell the team that it was a self-serving prank you committed which held no empirical basis. Basically, that you lied," you informed him, almost seeing the cogs spinning inside his head.

You both stood in silence as you waited for him to speak. You knew that he didn't have any choice; you'd drag him in anyway, and a lot more forcefully if he were resisting. And he obviously realised this as well and slowly nodded. He didn't look pleased with the situation, but at least he wasn't going to force you to drag him there, kicking and screaming.

Sighing in relief, you took him by the arm and lead him to where you had parked your nondescript car. It was possible that by this time tomorrow, Regan would be back with his grandmother and his normal life. That thought made you smile and you knew you had done something right.

Jeron was currently being questioned in the interview room and you felt confident that Regan would be released under the lack of evidence against him. You moved over to where L was hurriedly tapping on his keyboard and drew your arms up over his shoulders. "You risked your life back there," L spoke, turning his head slightly to see you.

"Yeah, I know. And it was completely worth it," you defended, waiting for a cutting remark from the detective.

"I think you did well, Ahiru."

Your smile grew at his unexpected words. Praise from L about other's detective skills was definitely rare. Savouring it, you pressed closer and buried your face in his hair. He always smelt of candy. You didn't even realise someone could smell of sugar before you had met him. And it had now been, for a long time, your favourite scent.

It faintly irritated you that L would never stop his work for more than five minutes to talk to you, but you knew that his work was always important and delay might cost someone their life. So you stayed, and didn't complain. L didn't mind you staying close by and you didn't mind too much that he wouldn't give you open attention whilst he was researching for the investigation.

'Comes with the job description,' you mused, smiling into L's shirt.

He temporarily paused his typing and glanced at you. You used his momentary attention to your advantage and moved forward. Pressing your lips to his, all the tension that had built up in you from Regan's case melted away, leaving you feeling like you'd just lost all the bones in your body. As L's smile appeared, you wondered if you had the same effect on him.

L turned back to his computer and resumed his typing, but this time you felt no annoyance towards the work-obsessed man. As long as you could stay like this, everything was perfect and the world could wait.

"Thanks for everything, Ahiru," Regan smiled, shaking your hand firmly.

You had taken it upon yourself to be the one to deliver Regan back to his home after he had been acquitted from the charges by a rude but complying Jeron. Once Jeron had realised the magnitude of his actions, he had seemed almost apologetic towards Regan and even clapped him on the back before being taken away in a separate car. "See you around, Regan," he had called, before the door had been closed and the car pulled away.

Although you considered Regan to be completely innocent, you had still worn large sunglasses and a cap as you had met him for the first time face-to-face. Better safe than sorry. "I only did what I thought was right," you responded, your own smile covering your lips as you leant against the car.

"I'm just glad there was someone like you looking out for me," he stated, standing on the path outside his doorway.

Your smile widened and you said, "Well, you're a good guy, Regan. Your grandmother must be proud."

Just then, a figure appeared in the lit up doorway and a voice called out, "Is that you Regan?"

"Yeah, I'm finally home, Grandma," Regan called back, before he turned to you again and said, "Thanks. I'll never forget this. If you ever need anything from me, just give me a call."

You thought it was a strange thing for a high-school student to say, but agreed nonetheless. Maybe one day he'd end up the president? As Regan rushed up the garden path, he paused at the doorway and waved to you before heading inside to his grandmother.

The fact that there was still people like Regan around warmed your heart and you were smiling as you started the car and drove back to headquarters. You walked into the main room and saw L's computer screen still alight. Not that you were surprised, however, one thing was missing and you looked around for your absent detective.

Arms suddenly snaked around you and you turned, startled, to see L. "Why aren't you working?" you asked, grinning all the same.

"I ran out of tea," he answered, and you saw that one of his hands held a teapot.

You resisted the urge to roll your eyes and instead pulled L towards you and you shared a warm kiss together. You tightened your hold on him and refused to move for the next 10 minutes.

It was only when L announced that the teapot was slowly giving him third-degree burns that you released him and allowed him to set the teapot down. "Sorry," you murmured, watching him sit down in front of his screen.

"Don't be," he replied, and reached out his hand.

You took it and he led you closer and pulled your arms around his shoulders. You felt surprised and amused at the same time, it seemed that L enjoyed your hugs as much as you did after all. Staying in that position for the remainder of the night, the hours seemed to fly by as they always did when you were close by to the man you loved.


	7. Chapter 7

"Morning," you cheerfully greeted, making the tall, white-haired German turn towards you.

"Good morning, Ahiru," Ackerley returned, smiling at your enthusiasm, "You're fairly happy…did something happen?"

You set about making yourself a honey-sweetened cup of tea and focused on keeping your tone light and cheery. "I guess I just woke up on the right side of the bed," you responded, knowing full well that both of you were aware that you slept on the couch near by L's computer.

Stirring your tea, you appeared to be thinking, before you looked over at Ackerley and asked, "You know, I haven't heard much about you yet, Ackerley-san."

He smiled into his own cup and glanced up. "What would you like to know, Ahiru?"

You wondered then if he had already guessed your reason for asking. "Do you have a family?" you tried, figuring that bluntness couldn't really hurt at this point.

"Yes…a wife, and my daughter and her husband. It was their five year anniversary only last month," Ackerley said, a hint of pride entering his voice.

"Oh, congratulations! How long have you and your wife been married?" you questioned, placing the warm spoon into the kitchen sink and looking over to Ackerley.

"32 years now," he answered, a small smile growing on his face.

The love he felt for his wife was visible in his eyes and you couldn't help but hope that someone would have the same expression whilst thinking of you. "Ahhh…so this is what love looks like," you murmured, wondering if you looked like that when you thought of L.

Seeming to come back to reality, Ackerley looked down at you and his love-filled expression moulded into one of sadness. "But it has not been without its hardships."

Concern flitted across your features as you debated asking him to explain what he meant. Seeing your face, Ackerley gave a short laugh. "I know you are curious, Ahiru. It is quite alright to ask, I will tell you all I feel comfortable telling."

Nodding in acceptance, you kept quiet and waited for him to continue.

"I first met Sabine in college and I quickly fell for her. However, I never admitted my feelings and we parted ways upon graduation. It was only by chance that I stood behind her in a line in a Berlin coffee shop a few years later, and I took the second chance gratefully. I didn't make the mistake of letting her go this time, and we were married in another two years.

"We had a beautiful son together, who we named Axel. His smile could draw anyone in, and Sabine and I loved him very much…" Ackerley trailed off, leaving a feeling of unease in your stomach.

When you'd asked about his family, Ackerley hadn't said he had a son.

You almost wanted to tell him to stop his story there, and prevent yourself from hearing another tragic finish. But Ackerley had decided to tell you his story, so you would listen no matter the ending. "What happened?" you tentatively inquired, keenly aware of the distant, unfocused expression on your colleague's face.

"When he was six, we decided that we'd take a vacation to the beach. Axel had never swum without help before, and was excited about going for the first time. The night before, he decided to practice in our pool when we'd gone to bed. It must have been harder than he'd thought…"

The elderly man cleared his throat loudly, attempting to keep his voice from wavering. "You'd think that after so many years I'd be able to tell the story without having to stop. Looks like this isn't one of those things that become easier with time. I'll never forget the moment I walked into the backyard searching for Axel, and I saw him floating in the pool. For me, time paused and when I dove into the pool, I prayed that he'd only just fallen in a minute before…but I'd used up all my chances. My wife, unable to deal with the grief, moved out of our house and left me."

Your eyes widened in astonishment. Now you could understand Ackerley's reluctance to imprison an innocent teenager away from their family. Though, you'd imagined that after a death in the family, the family would band together to support each other. You decided to prompt him to continue, unsure of where the story would go next, "She left?"

He nodded in confirmation, his mouth a thin line. As he began to speak again, a different voice broke through the tense silence. "Team! Report to your monitors now for an update! Soo-Long has cracked the identity of one of the Kiras!" boomed Andre, incapable of hiding the sense of achievement in his tone.

Your head snapped around at Andre's words. They'd found one? How?

Glancing back at Ackerley, you saw that all traces of sadness had drained from his expression and had been replaced by determination. "It seems we must continue this conversation later, Ahiru. For now, we must earn our bread."

Nodding, you left the kitchen and moved back to your computer, your luke-warm tea in hand. You seated yourself and cast a look over at L to see how he was reacting. Typically, he was hunched over in front of the screen, typing so quickly that the tapping of the keys was a near constant droning.

A frown crossed your face as you mused about what he must be thinking. Knowing L, he was probably frustrated that he hadn't found out the identity of the first Kira. And a frustrated L was never a good thing. It just meant less sleep and more sugar as he forced himself to continue the investigation.

Exhaling to physically end your train of thoughts, you raised your head so you could see Andre. He was standing behind Soo-Long as she typed at her computer, a glint in his eye that betrayed nothing yet everything. Your eyebrows furrowed as you thought back to how L seemed to be suspicious of the investigation leader, and Andre's current behaviour wasn't helping to relieve your doubts.

Almost as though sensing your eyes on his back, Andre turned and stared straight at you, an unreadable expression on his face. Ducking back down, you pretended that nothing had happened, and completely missed the worried expression dart across L's features as he looked between you and Andre.

"Has everyone got the information up on their screens?" Andre called across the room, looking around.

You nodded in affirmation as you clicked to open the page. Your eyebrows shot up into your hairline as you looked at the open web browser. No wonder L had missed it, Kira had broadcasted his identity over a public website. Distorted sound filled the room as each member of the investigation opened the video file at the same time.

"Hey there, thanks for watching this video," greeted a man wearing a novelty clown mask.

The man seemed to be sitting in the darkness as the only light that could be seen was from the web cam situated in his computer. Although it could have been manipulated, the voice seemed to belong to a young American male, and long dark hair spilled from under the mask, granting you another feature. "It seems like once again, everything's been left up to me. But this time, I have a little help. The gods have granted me the power to pass judgement on people, meaning that if I think you're doing a bad job, you better watch out. And you know who I think are doing a bad job at the moment? Ghailonge Corporation. They've been going back on their word to cut down on their pollution levels. So, guess what? You're my next target, president! Enjoy your last hours of life!"

A deep chortle boomed through the speakers as you saw the man briefly scribble something with a pen, and you could almost hear the satisfaction in his laughter. "Now for the viewers, let me know if you have any suggestions for my next target! Bye and I'll see you next time!"

The figure reached forward, and the video ended with a black screen. You sat there unmoving, feeling shock run through you. Kira was taking requests now?

"Soo-Long, have you gotten any further on that IP address?" Andre asked, his calm voice sounding loud in the silence left by Kira's message.

"Not yet, it's a dead end. Traces back to nowhere," Soo-Long replied, a hint of irritation escaping her.

"Ackerley, any news on the president to Ghailonge Corporation?" Andre queried next, fixing the white-haired man with his intense gaze.

"None as yet. I'll tell you as soon as something happens," Ackerley informed, not taking his eyes from his monitor.

Andre seemed aggravated at the team's lack of progress, and it was this time when L spoke up. "I can track him. With Ahiru's help, of course. But it may take up to two days," L offered, his tone level.

Considering L's proposal, Andre stared at the dark-haired detective. Although you didn't voice your confusion, you were bemused that L would bother to ask for permission. It wasn't as though Andre held any official authority above either you or L, and you'd become accustomed to L acting as he wished.

It struck you that L was the type to work on many things at once, and it wasn't unlikely that L was using this as an excuse to test his suspicions on the investigation leader.

Coming to a decision, Andre made eye contact with L and inclined his head. "Any extra information you could bring to the table would be extremely helpful, L," Andre said, a slight smile adorning his face.

L nodded in return and as Andre turned away, he looked over to you, wordlessly asking for you to come and speak to him. You left your computer and moved over to his, your tea long forgotten as you waited to hear L's proposed tracking method. "Normally I wouldn't even entertain the notion of using this method, but in the circumstances, I think it might be quite pragmatic," L began, his thumb resting against his lips, "The Kira used a web cam that was inbuilt into his computer, meaning that it wouldn't be easily removed at will. It's possible that we might be able to hack into the camera lens and upload the image straight to our network."

Catching on, you finished his idea for him, "And then just wait for him to appear in front of the computer again unmasked…he'd be completely unaware that he was being watched through his own web cam. You know, I think that might work."

The edges of L's mouth quirked upwards as you agreed with his plan. "Let's begin then," he said, opening a bag of candies and setting them beside his computer.

As he lifted one to his mouth, an amused expression stole over your features. It seemed like L's mood had improved immensely now that he had a definite trail to follow. Turning away from L, you looked at the masses of data that were open on your screen and got to work. Now that this had happened, there wasn't any time to waste.


	8. Chapter 8

"Oh, yeah, I'd love to meet up again," you agreed, smiling at Alexandra even though she couldn't see it.

L spared a glance in your direction, quirking an eyebrow. He knew that you'd befriended someone in L.A. but it was unfathomable that once you'd gotten a lead on a case that you'd even consider prioritizing a social outing higher than the investigation.

Deciding on a time and a place to meet, you hung up the phone; the quiet smile on your face one that could only be facilitated by a promise to see a friend.

As soon as you placed your mobile down on the desk, a wave of unease came over you. Frowning, you looked at your computer, wondering if something had happened to your to data. Seeing nothing wrong, you felt confused. Where had that feeling come from?

Shrugging it off, you settled yourself back down at your computer, unaware of the slightest tweak in L's expression as he regarded you from his position.

It had only been a few hours since the startling revelation that one of the Kiras were broadcasting online, and ever since then, you and L had been constantly breaking through firewalls in an attempt to hack the computer used by the Kira.

L had told Andre that it would take the both of you two days. You knew he could do it in two hours. Although it bothered you to consider the underlying motives for why L was acting so strangely (well, more than normal), you scarcely had the time to leisure into your own personal thoughts.

By that time, Alexandra's unexpected call had been a welcome relief, even if L had taken on an irritated aura. L had once told you that he didn't want your responsibilities as a detective to prevent you from enjoying your life. Ignoring the blatant hypocrisy of his words, it seemed that now to you the intention of his words no longer applied.

Wanting to take a break and stretch your muscles, you murmured briefly in L's direction and walked towards the chrome doorway that led to the upstairs level of the investigation headquarters. You had only found out by chance that there was an upstairs, having one day taken the wrong door and fallen up the ascending stairs before you. Passing by, Soo-Long had quickly evaluated the situation and remarked in a teasing tone, "I see you are acquainting yourself with our stairs."

Unable to prevent the slight colour coming to your cheeks as you remembered the event, you entered the code and hauled open the heavy, metallic door. Another hand reached out and covered the one you had placed on the handle, and you turned to see an impassive L staring past you.

He said nothing, and you momentarily wondered if he had forgotten what he was going to discuss with you. A second later you remembered who you were actually thinking about. "Yes?" you prompted, not wanting to waste any of the precious minutes you'd designated for a break.

"I will accompany you, Ahiru-chan," he declared, leaving no room for disagreement.

It wasn't as if you'd disagree anyway, any time you spent with L where you had his undivided attention was a momentous occasion. Actually, you didn't think that that was possible. Even in the middle of an intense conversation, L's preconscious was probably unraveling another 10 difficult cases deemed unsolvable by the police.

In response, you stepped up the first stair, waiting for him to follow you up. Your heart nearly stopped as you realised that as you moved your hand from the doorway, he had only tightened his grip on your hand. The rare display of affection, no matter how small, had caught you off guard and you lightly squeezed his hand in return.

Turning back to the stairs before you, you didn't see the smile creep across L's face at your returning gesture. Making your way to the top of the stairwell, you entered a code and heard the mechanism noisily unlock, as though affronted at having to temporarily swing away from its comfortable hinge.

Stepping outside, the northern wind swept past, causing your hair and clothes to dance around you. You resisted the urge to look slightly worried when you pivoted and saw that neither L's hair nor clothes seemed to be affected by the wind. Resolving not to think about L's level of sanitation whilst working on a case, you instead wondered why he had decided to accompany you. Not even the starving urge to eat had pulled him from his screen, yet he had found it suitable to come with you for a brief stroll to the rooftop? Most likely there was some information he needed to tell you whilst eliminating the possibly of being overheard.

You dropped his hand and moved over to the railing, determined to make him initiate the conversation you knew he was there for. Nostalgia hit you as you looked across the width of the rooftop. It was higher than any other surrounding buildings and the layout reminded you of the building you had previously called home when you had still been working on the Japanese Kira case. L's presence certainly wasn't lessening the nostalgic feeling.

Seemingly sensing your thoughts of him, L began to slouch towards you, his face staring at the ground before him. His hair successfully covered his face and you were almost tempted to reach out and smooth the loose strands away so you could see his expression.

"Ahiru-chan. In regards to accessing the Kira's computer, please do not rush yourself."

You stood in silence, analysing the messages L could be hiding in his ambiguous words. Rationalising the most likely meaning, you answered, "But if I don't try my best, Andre-san may be frustrated at my progress."

L gave you the barest of nods and you knew that you had deduced his message correctly. L was giving Andre another test. It seemed that he still held suspicions regarding the investigation leader; over what, you were not certain. It was possible that L was just intentionally trying to aggravate the team leader in revenge for being treated like a regular detective, but that seemed too petty for L. It was more likely that he was trying to evaluate Andre's ability to handle the team in a pressurized situation.

"I am only looking out for your health, Ahiru-chan. Please do not overtire yourself," L commented, a note of finality in his voice.

Even though you knew he was only speaking to throw off any potential eavesdroppers, the double standard of his words still irritated you.

"Those words apply to you too, Ryu-kun," you shot back, keeping the frustration from your face but unable to prevent it from entering your voice.

No hint of surprise crossed his face but you knew he wouldn't have expected your words to be so impassioned.

"Is there something bothering you, Ahiru-chan?" he prompted, obviously unsure of how to take your message.

You remained silent, his vague question bringing many competing thoughts to mind. L was standing there, waiting for your answer, seemingly patient whilst you knew otherwise. Should you tell him about the brief feelings of loneliness? The doubts of his care for you?

No…it would only burden him at this point. It wouldn't be fair to add another problem to his already taxed mind. You would tell him when he wasn't so busy with a case.

Shaking your head, you flashed him a smile and walked back to the door, preparing to rejoin the investigation. "Come on, hurry up, Ryu-kun! We've got work to do!"

As you led the way down the stairs, you quickly banished a stray thought from your mind. 'If I only talk to him about it when he's not working on a case, I don't think I'll ever get the chance.'

"Isiah, dinner's ready!"

"'Kay, be down in a minute!" Isiah called back, closing the book he was reading and dragging himself off the bed and to the door.

Opening it, he slipped outside and turned the light off on the way, not bothering to close the door, allowing a stream of light from the hallway to brighten the dark room.

You stared at the screen in shock. It wasn't possible. When you'd first read the age of the accused, Regan, you'd immediately thought it near impossible that someone of such a young age could harbour feelings of resentment enough to take multiple lives. But the proof was right here. This boy, Isiah, not even 20, was Kira.

"It…Ryu-kun, please tell me we've stuffed it up."

L looked as though he wanted to tell you exactly the miniscule percentage of him making an error but the look on your face prohibited him from speaking.

Two days had passed since the investigation team's discovery of the online video of Kira, and working together, you and L had broken through and hacked the inbuilt webcam used to make the video. "It's possible it's not him. Someone else might have used his computer," you reasoned, wanting to give this boy the benefit of the doubt.

L's voice was almost hesitant as he replied to your idea, "No. The voice is the same as the one from the video. I'm ninety-nine point seven percent certain of this."

Turning to face him, you saw some apprehension in his eyes, directed straight at you. It was then you realised that you were letting your emotions get in the way of your cognitive processes.

Your expression hardened as you focused your mind on the matter ahead. "If this is the way it must be," you said, keeping your gaze level with L's, "Then so be it. Let's announce this to the team."


	9. Chapter 9

**You Should Have Cared**

Chapter Nine

"Ahiru, wait. Let us consider the situation before we react," L's calm voice stopped you mid-stride.

Turning, you raised an eyebrow in question. Of course, you should have known that L wouldn't want to immediately impart this new information without analysing it every single way imaginable.

Resisting the urge to roll your eyes at him, you walked back and sat at his side by the computer. The live feed was still depicting the inside of Isiah's darkened room and seeing it reminded you of the something you just wanted to hide in the shadows of the back of your mind.

Averting your eyes, you tilted your face up to take in L's expression. He seemed to be staring at the screen deep in thought, his eyes unfocused. For an instant you felt a need to distract him, to draw all his attention to you, if only for a moment.

The feeling slipped away as you saw L smile lightly, obviously lost in his own ingenious constructions and strategies. Exhaling silently, you couldn't help but smile as well. The upward turn of his lips was such a rare occurrence that, to you, it almost warranted a celebration.

Blinking as his face turned towards you, the smile still remained on his features and your mouth quirked up even higher in response. You waited for him to speak, knowing that he would tell you if you were patient enough.

As his eyes caught yours, he seemed to realise that he hadn't yet informed you of the newly formed plan and opened his mouth to tell you to meet him on the roof in exactly an hour. You nodded, and stood up. Now you had to find something to occupy you until L was ready to talk.

You figured that your desk was a good place to start and you walked over in time to see your phone nearly commit suicide as its vibrations carried it close to the edge of the table.

Lunging to catch it before it smashed to the floor – you really didn't want to have to buy a new phone so soon after losing the last one - you reached it just in time and beamed to yourself in victory before pressing the call answer button. Having not taken the time to check the caller I.D., you were surprised to hear your grandmother's dulcet tones in your ear.

"Grandma? How are you? Why are you calling?" you queried, wondering if something had happened back home.

Her laugh sounded more than a little amused and she replied, "Is it so strange that I'd call you to find out how you're faring overseas? We've barely had anything more than a few five minute calls since you've left. The house feels much too empty without your presence here. A few calls here and there wouldn't be unwelcome."

"Is it so difficult to just tell me that you miss me and want me to call more?" you replied, grinning at her indirect way of speaking.

You heard a sigh on the other side of the line and knew that your grandmother was smiling as well.

"So how have things been going, Grandma? The house hasn't fallen apart yet?" you joked, your mood lifting almost immediately as you imagined the partly exasperated expression your grandmother would be wearing at your remark.

"Of course not. That man, Matsuda, has been visiting now and then. He's been updating me on the progress of the investigation-"

You made a disapproving noise in the back of your throat. "Grandma, you know I don't want you to be involved! You already know too much as it is. It's not safe knowing anything about the investigation."

"You have nothing to worry about, Ahiru dear. I'm much more worried about you than myself. Just thinking about the trouble you could get into is giving me gray hairs," your grandmother answered, trying to convey her concern for you while still keeping the mood light.

Knowing that you could both argue about each other's safety for hours, you decided to branch off into another topic. "All worries aside for the moment, you say Matsuda-kun has been coming to see you? That's nice of him. I hope he's being polite to you. He certainly has an…interesting demeanour."

"It took me some time to adjust. At first I was suspicious of him, and was not sure if I could fully trust him, but he is quite a sweet young man and he's been pleasant company," your grandmother admitted, her voice betraying her appreciation of the police man, "And although he's said nothing on the matter, I think he also misses you. When you're not busy, you should contact him to let him know you're doing well."

You hummed in agreement, you owed quite a lot to Matsuda when you thought it through. Without him, you may never have acknowledged your feelings for L, and you would have also never known about the letter or the burial site; the one which you later used to resurrect L from his early grave. "I'll contact him soon, you have my word on it."

"Thank you, it will mean a lot to him," she said, a note of finality in her voice, "So, Ahiru, you must tell me all about how your trip to America has been. Please don't tell me he's had you working on the investigation without stopping."

The he that your grandmother was referring to was obvious. "No, he hasn't," you replied, "But I'm starting to wonder if he's even slept at all since we've arrived."

An hour had passed since L had told you to meet him, and after getting off the phone to your grandmother, you made your way to the rooftop. The sun was slowly giving up its fight for dominance in the sky, and was sinking into the fluorescent depths of the hills behind the city. Warm wind rushed past your ears in welcome as you stepped out upon the plain concrete surface.

"Ryu-kun," you greeted, seeing his tall form resting against the rail on the opposite side of the roof.

He glanced over his shoulder before gesturing at you to come to him. Obliging, you walked to him, taking in the way that the colours of the sunset played across his features and made his eyes seem much brighter than their usual inky darkness.

Wanting to stay standing like this for as long as he would allow, you kept silent, resting your weight against the cool metal railing. Surprisingly, he also seemed content to hold your gaze and you felt a smile tug at your mouth.

The sun dipped lower towards the horizon and the vibrant golden yellows and coral oranges of the clouds became a light cherry, stretching as far as you could see across the open sky. It wasn't until the sun had disappeared and the sky had changed to a deeper sapphire that either of you moved.

L shifted slightly and you knew that he was about to divulge his plan to you, now that you were more concealed by the darkness. So it came as a surprise when he reached out and pulled you into his arms, resting his chin on your head.

Not really caring about why the sudden affection, you tightened your own arms around him and decided to savour the moment. Making a small noise of happiness, you rested your cheek against his chest and smiled into his shirt. If you'd glanced up, you'd have seen the similar smile of content on L's face.

You tried not to feel disappointed when L pulled a way after awhile, a look of seriousness coming over his expression. As he explained that you would delay before alerting the investigative team, but secretly be inspecting Isiah alone, you nodded. L was obviously heavily suspicious of Andre, and although for what you weren't exactly sure, you knew L enough to know that on these matters, he was almost always right.

It seemed he wished to use the delay to prompt Andre into making a move. However it had to be timed precisely, too short of a time would fail to create the action, whereas, too long would give him reason to suspect you. L was the best detective in the world after all.

After L had finished his brief outline, he stepped forward and once again took you off guard. He leant down and pressed his lips against yours, the feeling of warmth that came with it making you react almost instantaneously. Stretching your arms up to sit comfortably in his soft, dark hair, you pulled him further down to deepen the kiss.

Out of breath, you released him first, allowing him to move back into his usual slouch. Quickly quelling the mortifying urge to giggle in delight, you settled on an affectionate smile, which only grew as he gently took your hand and led you out of the night and back inside the building.

As you turned to take one last look before the door slipped shut, you saw the crescent moon turned up into a smile, and although you felt stupid, you couldn't help but smile back.


	10. Chapter 10

"Muuuummmmmm!! Hurry up!"

Alexandra glanced over to you apologetically for Thomas's behaviour before increasing the length of her stride. "Thomas! Slow down, we have all day left to go on the amusement rides!"

Stifling a laugh at the face Thomas pulled at his mother, you quickly sped up to make sure you weren't left behind. You noticed that a shock of black hair was no longer in your peripheral vision and you looked behind you to see that Thomas' friend, Ash, was lagging, staring up at the sky with blank eyes.

"Ash? Are you okay?" you questioned, coming to a stop and waiting for him to reach you.

His pale blue eyes met with yours and you wondered why it seemed like he was seeing through you. Shaking his head slightly, his eyes focused in on your face and a hesitant smile lifted his features. "I'm fine, Miss Aki…just thinking."

You couldn't help but smile back, it seemed almost unfathomable that Alexandra's hyperactive, outgoing son would be best friends with a boy that seemed to constantly have his head in the clouds. But, you supposed, friendship could come from anywhere.

"Heyyyy, Ash!! Hurry up or else everyone will get to the rides before us!!" Thomas shouted, motioning frantically at the both of you.

Exchanging glances, you and Ash quickly caught up to the other pair, both of you trying to smother your smiles at Alexandra's attempts at reprimanding Thomas for shouting. "But Mummm, they were being slow!"

"That's no excuse, Thomas. You must learn how to be patient," Alexandra replied, looking slightly exasperated.

Thomas crossed his arms and scowled, turning his face away from his mother. He looked as though he was about to retort when Ash cut in, "Tom, let's go on the bumper cars first. See, the line isn't very long for it."

Immediately regaining his enthusiasm, Thomas grinned and turned back to Alexandra. "Can we, Mum? Pleasseee!"

Alexandra had barely finished nodding her head before Thomas grabbed Ash by the arm and dragged him over to the queue. She then turned to you, smiling a little despite herself, and said, "I'm glad you've decided to stay for a little longer, Ash is over at our house most of the time and I can't imagine dealing with two kids by myself at an amusement park, even though Ash is exceptionally well-behaved for someone his age."

Something she'd said piqued your curiousity and you echoed, "Ash is at your house most of the time?"

The smile slipped from her eyes but stayed on her mouth as Alexandra answered, "He doesn't always get along with his father, so most of the year, Ash sleeps at our home. Actually, with the amount of times he's with us, you might call his father's house Ash's second home."

Your eyebrows rose in surprise and you looked over to where Ash was calmly waiting in line for the bumper cars, standing next to an excited Thomas. He looked no different from any other kids his age, if only a little more subdued. Nothing to let on that things at home might not be perfectly happy. 'I guess that until they tell you…you can never really know.'

Feeling your gaze on him, Ash tilted his face towards you and smiled. Thomas noticed that Ash's attention was no longer solely fixed on his ramblings and he turned to you and called out for you to hurry and join them. You looked towards Alexandra, your eyebrows raised in question. She nodded and you cheered silently as you made your way to the back of the line.

It seemed like it had been too long of a time since you had last fully enjoyed yourself and as Thomas' dodgem rammed into yours, throwing you violently backwards, you couldn't help but fully join in his laughter.

His smiling face and the somewhat mischievous quirk of Ash's mouth as he in turn crashed into Thomas' car let you temporarily forget the life you were keeping hidden from everyone. And honestly, you felt a little relieved to forget it all. At headquarters, your mind was in constant overdrive, you barely had the time to rest and the feeling of paranoia never quite left. Maybe some fun was exactly what you needed after all.

Stretched out in front of your computer, you yawned. You were waiting for Isiah to come back to his computer so you could instigate the plan. The webcam showed only a shadowed empty room, and you were beginning to grow drowsy after spending the day at an amusement park running after children.

Glazed eyes were closing when you caught a flash of movement in your peripherals. Sitting bolt upright, you saw Isiah enter the room and stretch before flopping down onto his bed. He reached over and opened a drawer, withdrawing a thin book with a dark cover.

Your breath caught as you saw the book. It must be….no, wait. Isiah turned it over in his hands and you saw the front.

Releasing a sigh that almost sounded relieved, you laughed at your paranoid instincts. He'd only grabbed his Math exercise book.

Isiah pulled a thick textbook out of the same drawer, along with a compact pencil case and the weariness began to come over you again as he you saw him start his homework for school.

"Ahiru…"

You batted at the hand resting on your cheek; not wanting to wake up.

"Ahiru…he's on the computer."

Ignoring the voice and preparing to drift back off into the bliss of sleep, one word couldn't help but catch your attention.

'Computer…?'

Oh…

Reluctantly, you opened your eyes to see an impassive dark-haired detective standing over you. You exhaled and said, "Sorry, Ryu-kun."

He acknowledged your words with the slight inclination of his head and commented, "Everything is ready for you, Ahiru. Please begin when you are fully alert."

L disappeared from your vision - god forbid that he spend a minute away from his computer, you thought somewhat bitterly – and you straightened up to stretch. Looking back to your computer screen, you saw that Isiah was sitting at his own computer, typing quickly.

You saw his eyes moving as though he were reading, and then he suddenly started laughing. He began typing again, a smile lingering on his face and broadening as he pushed the enter key. Realising that he must already be talking online, you signed into your false email account and added the address that you had found on his computer.

It only took a few seconds for Isiah to accept your invitation, and his username soon appeared on your screen. Briefly recapping on your goals, you took a breath and began to type to him.

You pressed send on the email you had just typed, glancing over to L to see if he'd received it. His eyes shifted to meet yours and he gave you an almost imperceptible nod.

Looking back over the email, you couldn't help but feel a little cruel. You knew that Isiah was, at the very least, involved with Kira in some form, and that you should feel no sympathy…yet…you felt almost guilty for lying to him.

A small, dancing L appeared on your screen, startling you. Taking a second to recover, you clicked the chibi detective to open the reply email.

**Subject: **RE: Hey, hey!!

**Message: **OMG!!! Hes into u! Ask him out! He's totally in luv with u! Ur his weakness!

We totally need 2 hang, how bout normal time and place :D Cya there

Much luv!

You sat there in shock. It was a coded message, of course, but just the mental image of L talking anything like this was enough to give you a brain aneurysm. Trying to suppress laughter, you noticed L give you a warning look. That only made it worse and you closed your computer before getting to your feet and walking swiftly towards the roof exit.

Hopping up the stairs, you burst out of the door and ran over to the railing. The uncontrollable urge overwhelmed you and the laughter spilled out. By the time you had gotten it out of your system, your eyes were watering and your muscles hurt from the fixed position.

Your smile, however, fell as soon as you heard the deep voice laced with a French accent.

"What was so funny, Ahiru?"


	11. Chapter 11

That was definitely Andre's voice. Your breathing slowed as you quickly calculated your next move. You slowly turned to face him, a disarming smile carefully in place.

"Hey, Andre. I didn't realise you were up here. Need a break or something?"

Andre's eyes darkened as he considered you impassively. You felt the urge to twitch and your fixed expression began to drop. A tense moment passed; suspicion crackling in the air between you.

However, the feeling dissipated when a grin stretched across Andre's face. "Yeah, sometimes the atmosphere in headquarters is a bit much. It's nice to take a breather every now and then."

You laughed a bit too loudly in relief, surprising you both, and you rushed, "Yeah. It's hard with everything just being work, work, work."

Andre nodded, "Well, it is very important work. So I suppose that makes it less like work and closer to an obligation to humanity."

The smile on his face, although broad and cheerful, exuded something akin to the predatory menace of a shark, and you couldn't help but latch onto his last words. An obligation to humanity? The words themselves seemed almost noble; it was the tone itself that had settled a feeling of unease deep inside the pit of your stomach.

The tone that had rung with an unabashed belief in the speaker's superiority to all in existence.

Andre must have noted your sudden silence and his eyes narrowed slightly. "Is something the matter, Ahiru?" he queried, his tone light.

Without even thinking, both of your hands went up to wave dismissively in front of you. Quelling the urge to take a step back and worsen his suspicion, you laughed airily and replied, "Sorry, Andre, I think I zoned out for a bit. Not enough sleep probably. I think it comes with the job though."

"Yes. I have seen you working hard lately. Strange that you haven't yet discovered the identity of the first Kira. He must be particularly slippery," Andre commented, avoiding eye contact and tilting his face towards the city.

Your eyebrows quirked upwards, betraying your otherwise calm expression. Andre was growing suspicious! It sounded as though he knew that you were keeping information from him!

Interrupting before you could configure an adequate excuse, Soo-Long emerged through the rooftop entrance. She looked somewhat out of breath and you guessed she had sprinted the entire stairway.

"Andre, Ahiru! L has found him! The first Kira!"

Crowding around L's screen was the entire investigative team. As you leaned past Cain's sleeved arm, you caught a glimpse of Isiah's face. Inhaling sharply, you began to cough. No one even glanced as you recovered; they were all too intent on the screen before them.

You were surprised at your own reaction, however. You were also unsure of what it meant. It felt like a confusing mix of sadness, worry and something close to blind panic.

You took a step backwards, intending to leave, when Taylan caught your arm. "We finally have one of them, Ahiru! Isn't it great?"

Smiling forcedly, you murmured out a reply and again tried to back out of the group. However, something fixed you in place. Ackerley had caught your eye in the edge of your vision. His expression caused you to forget your own distress, and you stared at him in both shock and sympathy.

He was crying.

Your mind was cast back to the conversation you'd had with him a few mornings ago in the kitchen. The confession about the son he'd found dead in his own swimming pool. It was so cruel. So cruel to take a son from their father. To force them to bury the person they'd expected to be buried by.

You also remembered how broken his expression had been, the time you had Regan in custody. Whereas Regan had eventually been released, you knew that Isiah would never feel that same relief of the sentence slipping from his shoulders. As soon as they found him, that burden would never be removed. The burden that would forever remain shackled to him.

"It can't be. It…it just can't."

Ackerley's gruff, emotion-laden voice drifted into your consciousness and your eyes snapped back up to his tormented features. Just as you gathered the courage to attempt to comfort him, he turned away and walked from the room.

You looked around to see if anyone was going to take the initiative, after all, you weren't sure that you were the closest to Ackerley. A second later, you realised that not one pair of eyes had strayed from the computer screen.

A sudden burst of anger cut through you and you felt an overwhelming desire to shout. To scream at them until they realised how terrible it was that they didn't even notice one of their friends breaking down right next to them.

You almost opened your mouth before you remembered. These people were police. They were trained to subdue emotion and to focus only on the goal. To find the Kira's that were jeopardizing so many lives. And not for the first time, you wondered if this was really where you belonged.

Your last thoughts triggered a lump of feelings but you temporarily swallowed them. If no one else was there for Ackerley, you'd be. You would not leave him alone.

You turned on your heel and left.

By the time you located him, he was already halfway through clearing his desk.

"Ackerley?"

At the sound of your voice, he straightened and glanced over his shoulder towards you. He gave you a brief nod before returning to his task, unceremoniously dumping his computer monitor into a flimsy cardboard box.

You took a breath as you considered the options. Either Ackerley had experienced the sudden urge to spring clean, was sick of his current workstation…or he was leaving the investigation.

"Ackerley…" you started again, trailing off as you realised you had no idea what to say.

You heard him sigh, and he temporarily stopped his clearing task. Seeing his hands, you registered the picture of a happy family beaming out of an old, metal photo frame. A much younger Ackerley smiled back, a cheerful woman stood beside him, with her hand on the shoulder of a teenaged girl seated next to a grinning young boy.

Ackerley suddenly broke the silence, startling you, "When I took the Kira case, I thought of it as a great honour. An acknowledgement of my services for the greater good…it seemed impossible that I'd ever voluntarily resign. Yet now…"

The way his eyes began to shine with tears showed you that although the dialogue had stopped verbally, Ackerley was having his own internal conversation.

It was nearly five minutes later that his voice returned. "When I took this case, I had never even considered the possibility that Kira was a mere child…it's much too close…too close, to him, to my dear Axel…"

His throat constricted with the sadness of his words and instead, he lifted the photo frame in your direction. Gingerly taking it from his fingers, you looked down at the photo. You felt your own tears begin to rise as you took in the oblivious, joyous figures together as a family. They seemed so content, and knowing that they soon were to be tragically ripped apart… such pain…

Not trusting yourself to speak, you handed back the metal frame. Ackerley delicately took it and opened his jacket to fit the frame snugly into his upper pocket.

Clearing your throat uselessly, you managed to choke out, "So you've made your decision?"

The detective inclined his head, a soft smile now emerging. "It seems about the right time for an old man like me to make way for the young ones with much longer and brighter futures. Besides, it will be nice to spend more time with my Sabine. And my dear daughter, who I have not seen for weeks now."

With those words, he hefted the overfilled cardboard box into his arms and looked down at you with his expressive gaze. "I am glad to have gotten the chance to work with you, Ahiru. We are so different from them, Andre and your L. I have a feeling that the time will come where you will need to make a difficult choice, and when that time comes, please do not forget how different you really are. It is what makes us both stronger and weaker at the same time."

A confused expression overcame your features and Ackerley laughed in good humour before offering you his hand. "We will meet again, Ahiru. Do not forget me."

Unable to help yourself, you brushed past his offered hand and threw your arms around him in a brief hug. "Of course I won't forget you, Ackerley. I hope we do meet again, I'd like to meet your family one day."

You released him and you exchanged brief but heartfelt smiles before he maneuvered towards the door and disappeared into the hallway. You didn't want to acknowledge it, but you couldn't help but think that you'd likely never see the gentle detective ever again.

All of the energy suddenly left you and you sat down at the recently vacated desk. It was only now that you were realising that Ackerley had taken on the role of a grandfather in your mind.

Cursing yourself for not asking for his address or phone number, you contemplated running after him.

Your thoughts, however, never managed to run their full course. An indifferent tone cut through you and drew all your attention. And at the news, your blood ran cold.

"Ahiru. A team has been deployed to recover the criminal, Kira. He will be brought here within the hour. I suggest you ready yourself."


	12. Chapter 12

"The phenomenon has yet to be explained. Religious leaders have decreed that it is a God at work, culling those who have sinned, while experts relate the mysterious pattern of deaths back to the Japanese "Kira" that appeared-"

You turned the TV off and sighed. The news really wasn't helping your already dark mood. Taylan and Cain had brought in Isiah, supervised by Andre and you had blanched and bolted straight out of headquarters.

Honestly, you weren't really sure why you'd left. A sense of dread and panic had just torn through you and your flight response had kicked in, taking you all the way back to the house L was renting. Well, the house that L was renting but had never actually been inside. Since he'd arrived at the investigative headquarters, you weren't sure he'd even left.

A dry laugh escaped you at the situation. You were a detective, one of the best in the world, and you had run away. From what, you weren't even sure. The intense need to get away, to escape, had just overwhelmed you and you'd slipped out without telling anyone.

Sitting up, you crushed your fists into your eyes. Why had it gone so wrong? Why couldn't you even face a child?

What was L going to think?

Shaking your head to discard the troubling thoughts, you decided to distract yourself. Thinking too deeply might take you to conclusions you didn't want to deal with right now.

You picked up your phone and dialed a number. It rung three times before a man answered and you couldn't help but smile.

"Matsuda-kun."

A startled noise sounded through the line, and you heard, "Ahiru-chan? I, I can't believe you finally called!"

The thought that Matsuda had recognised your voice so quickly broadened your smile. "Yeah, it's been a while, hasn't it? So…how's the investigation going?"

The long talk with Matsuda had grounded you, bringing back a feeling of normality, and you were considerably happier when you walked into headquarters the next morning.

That mood however, proved to be only temporary.

"Ahiru."

"Hey, L…" you drew out, trying to think of a way to avoid the impending conversation.

"You left yesterday," he stated, walking closer to you, a teacup in hand.

"Yeah, I forgot that I had arranged to meet with Alexandra, so I had to rush to make sure she wouldn't wait, you know?"

The lie felt sour and you inwardly cringed at deceiving someone who trusted you. Especially when that someone was L.

He stared at you with a piercing gaze and in his eyes you could see confusion. Your breath caught as you realised that he knew you were lying. You had always been so frustratingly easy for him to read.

Waiting for him to throw the lie out in the open and grill you about your real intentions, you were surprised when he only nodded and shuffled away. As he sat down at the computer and pulled his legs in front of him, you felt a stab of sadness.

Did he not even care about the truth? Were you of so little consequence to him that he could easily ignore a direct lie?

Those questions ate at you and you felt heavy as you began to walk to the computer next to L's.

You never reached it, however, because Andre stepped into view and headed straight towards you. "Ahh, Ahiru! Glad to see that you're feeling better today."

"Thanks, Andre," you replied slowly, unsure of his sincerity.

If Andre noticed your hesitation, he did not voice it, as he continued on. "Well, since you left, I'll bring you up to speed on the case. The suspect is refusing to answer any questions and when he speaks, only asks to leave. I'm not sure the gravity of his situation has set in yet…"

Uneasiness began to creep into your mind, and you quelled the urge to excuse yourself and leave again. Steeling yourself against the feeling, you nodded and waited for Andre to continue.

"It's possible he may feel more comfortable in your presence. I wish for you to speak to him, and see if there's anything you can coax out of him. At least try to get him to understand that cooperating with us is the best option for him right now," Andre said, watching you expectantly.

Your stomach dropped; this was the worst possible outcome. You knew you'd be able to handle normal work for the day, but this…

Your eyes drifted away as you contemplated a convincing excuse, however, they found themselves meeting L's dark ones. He was looking at you over his shoulder at his desk and his blank expression caused a rush of panic. You quickly agreed with Andre, cursing inside the entire time.

The man smiled and walked away, wishing you luck, but it fell on deaf ears. L's gaze still rested on you and the only thought that you were processing was: L must not doubt me.

You had to prove yourself with this. You didn't have a choice.

Dull, gray eyes stared back at you across the table. Isiah sat slumped in the car, his fallen features expressing his misery. You'd been sitting and talking to him for nearly half an hour, and the biggest reaction you had incurred had been a slight downturn of his mouth when you had mentioned his mother.

"Isiah, I'm here to help you. Please say something…if you continue like this, the situation is only going to worsen," you attempted, feeling sick to the stomach.

You were struggling to maintain your calm façade. It seemed as though nothing was going to prompt him to talk, and you felt like you were just wasting your time.

'No wonder Andre wanted me to speak to him,' you thought in annoyance, glancing towards your wristwatch.

Thoughts of Isiah's age and future were also involuntarily running through your mind and you couldn't deny the continued disbelief you felt about this boy being a mass murderer. You wanted it so desperately to not be true; killers were older, they were unstable and definitely didn't have part-time jobs at a video store.

You grinded your teeth together at your last thought, and again attempted to pull some sort of response from the boy across the table.

Isiah didn't even acknowledge your words; he was barely even blinking. He already looked so sad and helpless…you couldn't help but wonder what he looked like when he was happy.

All of a sudden, the urge to sneeze overcame you and you automatically excused yourself. Reaching for a tissue, you froze at Isiah's first words to you.

"Bless you."

Your eyes widened and you looked over to see him in the same position, no evidence to even suggest he had just spoken. "Um, thanks," you said, and stood up, speaking to no one in particular, "I think I should go…"

Striding towards the door, impatient to escape the room, you didn't hear as Isiah said, "Nice to meet you."

You cursed to yourself. That entire session may have progressed completely differently if you'd been able to talk about Shinigami. However, you were under orders from L not to mention anything about Death Notes or anything that could even suggest you knew something about using names to kill.

It had irked you slightly but you could see the reason behind the decision. L obviously hadn't decided to trust the investigative team with these revelations yet. In actuality, you weren't sure that he ever would with Andre in charge.

He had already far extended his usual boundary of paranoia by appearing in person to the investigative team. After hours of meticulous perusing of their profiles and background checks of course. However, the knowledge of a Shinigami world was much more precious…and much more dangerous.

Deciding that you didn't want to spend the whole night moping about in the house, you decided to call Alexandra and ask if she was free.

Grabbing your phone from its place on the bench, you barely even had the chance to press one number before it started ringing. It startled you and it slipped from your hand, crashing on the floor.

You quickly ducked down to check for damage and exhaled in relief as you realised that it looked to be fine. It was a pretty expense phone after all. L was aware of your tendency to lose or break any phone in your possession and had found one even you had to yet to destroy.

The flashing screen caught your eye and you answered as you brought it up to your ear. "Cain? What is it?"

"Hey Ahiru, I wouldn't bother you at home normally, but this is really important," the brown-haired police officer said.

"Has something happened?" you asked, unknowingly holding your breath as you waited for Cain to speak.

"Yeah, the suspect is finally talking. He said that he wants to see his parents, in exchange for information about…I'm not sure, Death Notes, I think he said?"

"Death Notes," you echoed, adrenaline rushing through you.

"Mhmm. I think he's just trying to bluff us, but Andre really thinks we're on to something. You should probably get down here."

By the time he had finished talking, you had grabbed a coat and were halfway out of the front door. "I'm already on my way."

You hung up and walked to your rented car, anxiety beginning to emerge at the new development. Isiah was going to tell them the secret about Shinigami. This was going to be big.


	13. Chapter 13

You impatiently stabbed the elevator button, uselessly attempting to prompt the heavyset metal doors to close sooner. The doors seemed to slide shut after an eternity of waiting, and your brows furrowed in frustration before you sighed in resignation and reached for your phone.

"Soo-Long? Yeah, what has Isiah said so far?" you asked quickly, tapping your foot at the sluggish progress of the elevator.

"Nothing much. He wants to see his parents before he'll let anything slip, but Andre wants a guarantee that he's not just deceiving us. So, we've kind of reached a stalemate," the investigator replied, her usually relaxed voice tinged with frustration.

The elevator dinged before the doors slowly parted, and you said a brief goodbye before hanging up and sprinting through the rooms. 'Finally! It's taken me too long to get here!' you thought, bursting through the last metal doorway and veering to the side in order to reach the questioning room Isiah was being held.

Turning the corner too quickly, you collided with someone and bounced back a few feet. You'd closed your eyes at the impact and as you opened them, you were surprised to see a man you didn't recognise standing in front of you, rubbing his chin and cursing. He looked maybe a year or so younger than you, and had unruly hair of a deep red that seemed to suggest that the owner was much more interested in other things than his appearance. There was a game console loosely clutched in his right hand, whilst his left supported the cigarette at his mouth.

"Who are you?" you demanded, your hand inching towards the knife hidden in your clothes.

His eyes met with yours and his angered expression dispersed as quickly as it had come. "Ahiru, right? Yeah, I recognise you from your description. I have a message from Watari."

You felt a complicated mix of feelings. Relief that he was sent by Watari, yet also suspicion. Surely Watari or L would have warned you about the red-head's sudden appearance? A hasty mental battle took place in your mind before you decided to trust the man. At least, until he gave you a reason not to. "Watari has sent me a message?" you ventured.

"Yeah, though I can't tell you here. Do you know somewhere safe?" the red head asked, taking another drag from his swiftly-vanishing cigarette.

Your suspicions rose again at his words. You'd have to be careful with this. "The roof is safe, we've checked it for taps and bugs," you replied, keeping your tone light and casual.

The rooftop was most likely the most logical and safest place to talk, it was familiar and you knew that you were close enough to the investigative team if they were needed. You hoped they wouldn't be.

"All right, let's go. I have other things to do. Can't believe I was dragged out just for some easy hacking and to play messenger boy. Watari owes me," the red head said, scowling slightly.

Leading the way over to the stairs, you made sure to keep enough distance between the two of you. You knew that he wouldn't be interested in relaying the message until he considered the environment secure, and focused on keeping your senses sharp while you moved up the flights of stairs.

Once out on the rooftop, you allowed yourself to briefly smile at the peacefulness of the evening air. The sound of the door closing behind you, however, quickly brought you back to the situation at hand. Before he could begin to talk, you cut in with your own questions. You needed some more information if you were going to trust him. "What is your name? And how do you know Watari?"

He regarded you calmly, almost as though he had predicted that you'd interrogate him as soon as you were allowed. "I'm known as Matt. And I know Watari from Whammy's. An orphanage," Matt responded, answering quite nonchalantly.

Although his voice was even, the expression in his eyes showed you that he was watching for your reaction. 'An orphanage? I wonder…would it be the same one where L lived? The one that trained its occupants to be detectives?'

"So, you knew that much about him then. I wonder what else L told you before he died," Matt mused, more to himself than anything.

You tried to contain your shock. Matt had seen through you so easily, but not only that, he still believed L to be dead. You were definitely in a bad situation. Who knew what Matt would do if he discovered that L was alive? Luckily, the red head appeared to be too deep in thought to take much notice of your temporary panic.

Realising that you needed to end the conversation, you requested the message from him. He seemed to break out of his thoughts and looked slightly disoriented before your words properly registered with him. "Oh, right. Yeah, Watari told me about a new plan that you're to play a part in. It's all written down in this note; it's encrypted with the 5th Nova cipher."

You nodded in understanding; you were quite familiar with that code. Taking the small, folded paper from Matt's hand, you glanced at it quickly. As you read the message, you began to smile. 'This…I think this plan will work,' you thought, your mind already calculating the possibilities.

"Do you mind?" Matt asked, holding out his hand for the message.

"Go ahead," you answered, allowing him to take the paper.

You watched in silence as he pulled a lighter from his pocket to permanently remove the crypt from existence. Plans and tasks were running through your mind as you contemplated your role in the coming event. You'd almost forgotten Matt's presence until he spoke again, catching you by surprise.

"I'm outta here now. Have to do that syncing for Watari. But…you know, I wanted to say…L, he was a pretty good guy. I mean, world's best detective and all…but it wasn't just that. He cared about us kids, even though it might not have been obvious to see. He never really showed it much, but it was always there if you looked hard enough," Matt said quickly, his face betraying his discomfort as he tried to explain, "I'm just trying to say, work is number one, but that didn't mean we weren't important too, you know?"

Standing there in confusion, you nodded slowly. "I know what you mean," you said neutrally, unsure of the proper reaction to Matt's sudden, personal speech.

Inside you were bewildered, why was Matt saying something like that now? Unless, he knew about your doubts, your uncertainty in L's affections. You hadn't mentioned that to anyone though; were you so easy to read to this man you didn't even know? If Matt could see in such a short time…surely L could…

You cut your thoughts off; those revelations could wait for another time. Matt seemed to look relieved after your response and his lips had quirked upwards. "Maybe I'll see you around, Ahiru. Anything's possible, right?" he ended, turning towards the stairway.

"Yeah, maybe," you said, startled by his words.

He threw a lazy wave over his shoulder before he disappeared inside the building and you stood on the rooftop alone, running through the conversation again and again. It had been nearly half an hour before you felt confident about both the message's contents and the short, puzzling conversation with Matt.

'I guess…it's time for it to begin. I better be prepared. He's not going to go down without a fight.'


	14. Chapter 14

**You Should Have Cared**

Chapter Fourteen

Only a few hours had passed since Matt had given you the cipher, and already the plan was in motion. L's voice was playing in your ear, informing you of the possible eventualities and alterations that might emerge due to the unpredictability of human desperation.

You were walking swiftly towards the room Isiah had been placed in, trying not to let the eeriness of the empty halls affect you. There were only two of you left inside the investigative headquarters and it felt strange for the usual hub of activity to be deserted. However, you drew comfort from the presence of the earpiece. "I'm nearly there," you murmured quietly into the microphone on your collar.

"You're on surveillance," L confirmed, his placid voice unchanged by the nearing event.

'It's nice to know someone's calm about this. Maybe he'd be a little more concerned if it was himself playing this role,' you thought to yourself, releasing an angry sigh.

You finally reached Isiah's holding room, and took a breath before you unlocked the door. It would begin as soon as you entered, and you had to make sure you were prepared for anything.

Opening the door, you slipped quietly inside. An uninhabited space met your eyes and you dialed quickly before bringing your cell phone up to your ear. "Andre?" you asked, bringing a small amount of panic and excitement into your voice.

"Ahiru? What is it? Did Isiah finally decide to talk?" Andre questioned, sounding immediately alert.

You pitched your voice higher and replied hastily, "Yes, he's told me everything! You have to get here right away! He said there's a special book he uses and he keeps it hidden. I think if I keep pressing him, he'll tell me where it is! Hurry!"

Not allowing him time to respond, you disconnected the call and sat down to wait for Andre's arrival. The sound of hurried footsteps soon reached your ears, and you marveled at how quickly the investigator could move when given the motivation.

L briefly took you again through the next phase, and you placed your hand on the handle of the door. "He's outside. Go," were L's last words before you pulled the door open and left the room. A somewhat disheveled Andre quickly headed straight towards you and you couldn't help but feel slightly intimidated as he drew himself to his full height in front of you.

"Ah, Andre! I got the location out of him! If we go now, I think we'd be able to…oh wait, maybe we should call the others?"

You held your breath in suspense. This was an integral part of the plan. Andre's decision here could either make or break the entire event.

"No, we can call and tell them the good news in the morning. I don't want to disturb them when they've been working so hard. We can locate this book ourselves," Andre coerced, smoothly.

"Ah, yeah you're right. Okay, let's go now then," you agreed, already walking impatiently towards the exit.

You had seen his eyes light up with the triumph of successfully convincing you, and had to repress a shiver at the poorly concealed malice showing through his professional mask. You stopped as you realised that the investigation leader was not following you. "Andre?" you voiced, confusion evident on your face.

"Hang on, Ahiru. Stay **right** there. There's something I need to do before we head off," Andre said, giving you a small apologetic smile before turning and heading down the hall.

You allowed yourself a small smile as he disappeared from view. So far, everything was progressing exactly to plan. L truly was a master strategist.

Static crackled quietly into your ear before L's voice cut in. "He's trying to find Isiah's admittance of the location on the surveillance tapes. The audio will not have picked up the location. The hacking and coded loop of your fake conversation with Isiah will be enough to convince him of the reliability of your story. He's taken the surveillance tapes of his arrival and pulled something from a drawer in a black pouch. He's coming back now."

Your eyebrows quirked at L's information. A black pouch? That couldn't be anything good…

Footsteps came towards you and you looked to see Andre reappear at the end of the corridor. He reached you and nodded solemnly, "Alright. Let's head off."

You nodded in return and the second phase of the operation commenced.

"He said all he had to do was write the name of the family and the age of the member he wanted to kill, and it would just somehow happen," you said, animatedly.

You were sitting on the passenger's side of Andre's car. You had been refusing to admit the final location to Andre, and although frustrated, Andre had composed himself enough to suggest that you direct as it was needed. He had of course, insisted on driving straight to the book's location, completely unaware that L had summoned the entirety of the investigative team there. Andre was finally going to be exposed.

"I see. That's such a simple way to take a life," the man commented, excitement creeping steadily into his voice.

His face turned away and in your peripheral vision, you saw his cheeks lift in a smile. His mask was still slipping. It was falling so quickly now that it was becoming hard to convince him of your obliviousness. Anyone could have seen Andre's intentions by now.

"So, tell me what else he told you about the book," Andre pressed, no longer attempting to sound nonchalant.

The desire for power was showing through the cracks, and you half expected him to start muttering and cackling to himself in glee. "Well…he said that the book never ran out of pages and would only work for its owner," you said, watching for his reaction.

Anger suddenly ran across his face, and he looked towards you, "And that owner currently is?"

"Isiah," you confirmed.

The car fell into silence and atmosphere began to grow tense. It was obvious that Andre was deep in thought about your last revelation. He was probably still outraged that you hadn't admitted the book's location, and now this new information wasn't improving the situation.

'I hope you were right about this, L,' you thought to yourself, praying that he would get you through this safely.

Suddenly, the car began to slow and you noticed with a jolt of alarm that you had pulled into a deserted alleyway lit only by the headlights of the car.

All of a sudden, the cracked mask broke into shards and fell completely.

"Well…I wish it didn't have to come to this, but I've been left with no other choice. I'm not as stupid as you thought. I'm not going to allow you and that bag-eyed detective steal my way to glory," Andre said, and your stomach plunged as it was revealed what Andre had been hiding in the black pouch by his side.

The cold metal pressed against your skin, and you swallowed thickly at the sight of the handgun against your head. "Tell me how to take possession of the book!" Andre demanded, flicking off the safety and pressing harder so the barrel pushed painfully against your skull.

"I-I don't know! He didn't tell me!" you stammered out, fighting to keep your cool in this dangerous turn of events.

"You're lying! I can see it! Tell me the truth or I won't fail to fire a few warning shots," Andre growled out, menacingly.

You could tell his threats would be carried out, and by warning, he meant in the knees so you wouldn't be able to escape. Adrenaline was pumping through you, and your brain was screaming at you to flee, to run and escape from this before you were killed.

"Ahiru…calm down," came the sudden serious voice in your ear, "Stall him. We're only 3 minutes and 27 seconds away."

Those words were all you needed to let go of your panic and compose yourself once again for the task ahead. L was coming to save you; you didn't have anything to worry about as long as you kept talking. Taking a short breath, you quickly planned out your words.

"Alright…I'll tell you all I know," you cried out, faking the terror you had felt only moments earlier, "To gain ownership of the book, you have to say 'I take this power from you and claim it in my own name' in front of the last person who owned it."

"Good. You're doing well. Now, I have other questions for you to answer. Where is the location of this book?" Andre crooned, pleased with your surrender.

You hesitated at his next question. If you admitted the location, would you then be rendering yourself useless to him?

Rage flashed through his face at your reluctance and he drew the gun back to slam it into the side of your head. Although it was quite lightweight, the force behind it was enough to snap your head to the opposite side and you resisted the urge to rub your face to relieve some of the lingering pain. You know there would be an ugly purple bruise there tomorrow.

"You better tell me. Next time I won't be so nice," Andre spat out, shoving the gun back against the sore skin just behind your cheekbone.

"Tell him the location, Ahiru. We're 1 minute and 6 seconds away now. Just keep talking," L murmured into your ear, causing a warm feeling of relief to spread through you.

"112 Waterfront Avenue," you almost whispered to the traitorous policeman at your side.

A laugh reached your ears and you looked over in horror. The man next to you had thrown his head back and was releasing a laugh that chilled your bones. As he finished, a smirk replaced his gleeful grin and he said to you something that froze you to your core.

"Thank you for your services, Ahiru. You are no longer needed."

And with that, he pulled the trigger.


	15. Chapter 15

You Should Have Cared

Chapter Fifteen

Your eyes widened in combined shock and panic as you realised you were too late to react. The heavy sound crashed into your ears as you closed your eyes as though it would shield you from the bullet. Your mouth opened to scream at the pain that was to come.

Only…to find that the pain never came.

Turning to look at Andre in fright, you didn't understand why he hadn't already carried out the inevitable. Maybe he had decided to toy with you?

The surprise on his face immediately told you that he hadn't been expecting your continued existence either. 'Then what…?' you wondered, still frozen in confusion.

"The bullets have been replaced with blanks," L's voice coolly informed you, "The existence of the gun was already known."

At that moment you felt a strange mix of relief and intense anger. Gritting your teeth, you tried to stop yourself from cursing at the secretive detective. A moment later, as Andre lunged the distance between you, you felt a rush of adrenaline take over. Although you deflected his quick blows, his weight advantage left you vulnerable as his elbow drove straight into your solar plexus.

Gasping at the pain, you refused to give in and lifted your own elbow to mirror his movement. Your blow landed just as painfully as his had, and you could see that he was momentarily winded.

You realised that this moment could mean the difference between life and death, and you hastily scrabbled at the door handle, feeling relief as the curved surface met your shaking fingers. Wrenching the handle back, you pushed against the door to gain your freedom.

Only to find, with a sense of dread, that the door would not open.

Choked chuckling came from behind you and you had to force yourself to look back at the man with death in his eyes. "Modern cars are such a marvel. Such a high value on safety, especially the safety of children," he said, grinning.

Your breath stopped at the implications of his words. "No," you breathed in horror.

"Oh yes," Andre countered, twisted amusement dripping into his voice.

This was it…this man was going to overpower you and kill you…all because of a child lock. It didn't seem fair; that your life was going to be ended due to a precaution implemented to save. There was no way you would be able to break the window, you could see the glass was reinforced, and Andre would never give you the time to search for another escape. If you weren't disadvantaged by such a cramped space, you might have been able to fight him one-on-one…

You'd have to…incapacitate him somehow, or maybe…just maybe…

Quickly constructing your plan, you aimed a loose fist towards Andre's face. His police training allowed him to easily block it, and he grabbed your hand to prevent you from moving, and raised his other to your neck.

Your breathing was instantly cut off, and you knew you had to be quick or else you would lose your life. "I thought you'd be more difficult to kill than this," Andre gloated, pushing harder against your throat.

You aimed a weak kick towards him, and he barely gave it enough attention to knock your leg off to the side, down towards the pedals of the car. Attempting to ignore the panicked calls of your brain for oxygen and the burning of your neglected lungs, you maneuvered your foot into position.

Your vision was beginning to black out and you vaguely wondered whether you'd be in time. Words were no longer registering, and it was with a detached realisation that you noted that it was L's rushed voice in your ear.

Bringing your free hand back to build momentum, you forced your fist forward. Andre's eyes flicked to it only for a moment as he saw it veer off track and miss him completely. A cruel smile was growing on his face as the sense of victory built within him.

The distant headlights approaching at an alarming speed distracted him for only a moment, but by the time he looked back to your blotting features, it was already too late. Throwing your hand feebly onto the gear stick, you managed to pull it into gear and allowed yourself a small smile as you felt the car shudder beneath you.

Clumsily moving your foot, you stomped down on the pedal beneath your heel. The revs of the engine tore through the air, and the sudden jolt of movement was enough to unbalance Andre. Your vision slowly returned at the release of your airway, and the adrenaline fueling your movements rushed forward in another wave. Retracting your hand from the gear stick, you shoved him unceremoniously away from you.

Taking a moment to take note of your surroundings, your blood ran cold at the sight at the sight of the approaching wall. The remainder of the adrenaline keeping your brain functioning pulled your foot off the accelerator, but by then, the car was already roaring too quickly towards your death.

Before you crashed, you tried to remember whether you had removed your seatbelt in the midst of the struggle. The wall was barely meters in front of you and the recollection could not form. And, as you watched the bonnet of the car crumple in on itself at an astonishing rate, you could only hope.

Moments later, your consciousness left you.

You awoke in confusion, flailing your limbs to fend off an attacker you couldn't remember. "Ahiru! Calm down! Please!" were the first shouted words to reach your ears, and you looked over in shock to recognise Soo-Long standing at the side of your…bed?

Bed? Why were you in a bed? And why was Soo-Long…

The stark colour of the walls and your friend's worried expression were enough for you to realise where you were. You laid there a few moments in silence, trying to take in everything that had happened. You'd…been attacked by Andre…and…crashed the car, hadn't you?

Questions flooded your dazed mind, but the one that first formed into coherence was, "Where's L?"


End file.
